SOMEONE WITH COURAGE MUST END THIS LOST CAUSE

There is a very big story brewing concerning the nation of Colombia and the
need for this nation to reconsider the legalization of drugs.

Because of what is happening in Colombia, we have a chance to rethink our
drug policies and make some brave national decisions that could bring the
nation out of the hole illegal drugs has pulled it into.

We are edging closer and closer to military involvement in Colombia.

That is happening because the drug dealers there have made so many billions
of dollars that they are able to finance armies on both the right and the
left to protect their product.

The product constitutes somewhere between a quarter and half the cocaine
sold in the shadow world of U.S. crime.

This is something that has no precedent in modern society.

What does have a precedent is America's stumbling and bumbling its way into
a situation that cannot be settled easily.

The situation is the result of a long history of troubles that have
embittered the people of Colombia to such an extent that all the corruption
works in favor of the drug dealers, men who have shown they are willing to
murder anyone who threatens them.

White House drug policy adviser Barry McCaffrey adamantly opposes drug
legalization. He thinks we can win the war on drugs.

But he does not understand that our propping up the government of Colombia
with $550 million in military aid will not do the job at all because the
drug dealers will outspend us.

In fact, they probably have already. Leftist rebels control half the nation.
Now the rebels have cut a deal with the dope dealers -- just as members of
Colombia's right wing did earlier -- and are being paid to guard the dealers
while battling the government.

If we get into this mess, somebody's bird is going to be cooked, and I don't
doubt that the American eagle will be on the menu, with Vietnamese spices
and dressing.

The war on drugs cannot be won on the U.S. end of the traffic, either. There
is just too much money out there. When one person goes down, others
immediately rush to take his or her place.

Police departments have to fight the internal corruption wrought by
drug-money bribes. Lower-income communities have to suffer the dangers that
go with young people seeking out swift riches in a business where life is
cheap and terror expansive.

Drugs need to be legalized, privatized and taxed. That would bring plenty of
legal money into society and provide enough funding for rehabilitation.

What happened with liquor should happen with dope. Just as the nation didn't
become a land of hopeless alcoholics with the end of Prohibition, it will
not become one of helpless drug addicts. That goes against human nature.

It will take substantial courage on the part of Bill Clinton, George W. Bush
or Bill Bradley or Al Gore or whoever finally steps before the microphone to
talk about all this. But there has never been a better opportunity than now,
because we can so easily see that continuing the war on drugs by trying to
stop imports just isn't working.

Of course, if drugs were legalized in order to destroy their business, those
Columbian drug billionaires would know what to do. First, they would finance
lobbyists to oppose the legalization.

After they lost, they would go on to do what all robber barons have done. In
their case, they would buy plenty of stock in pharmaceutical companies.