LEGALIZE DRUGS? TOO MANY POLITICIANS ADDICTED TO DRUG-WAR RHETORIC

New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson said something revolutionary the other day. He
called for the legalization of marijuana, cocaine, heroin and other illegal
drugs. "Control, regulate, tax, educate and prevent." That's the drug policy
the conservative Republican advocates.

The nation isn't ready to go nearly that far. Given the addictive quality
and the serious social and physical harm drug abuse causes, wholesale
legalization is not the path to follow. Still, a conservative Republican
governor's willingness to say out loud what so many Americans say privately
is welcome.

Somewhere between legalization and the cruel, expensive and wrongheaded war
on drugs that grips America today lies rational balance. The country needs
to start moving toward that balance. If Johnson's pronouncement only serves
to bring the growing doubt about the nation's harmful drug strategy into the
open, it will serve a useful purpose.

President Clinton smoked marijuana. Al Gore and Bill Bradley, the Democrats
vying to succeed Clinton, have both admitted they did too. The likely
Republican nominee for president, Texas Gov. George W. Bush, neither admits
nor denies illegal drug use, but when asked about it confesses to having
once been "young and irresponsible."

Johnson himself admits he smoked marijuana in college and even tried cocaine
a few times. Should he be in prison? An estimated 400,000 American drug
users are.

Privately, police, judges, prosecutors -- the people on the front lines of
the drug war -- confess their frustration and their disillusionment. The
nation's drug budget has grown from $1 billion to $18 billion in two
decades, two-thirds of it going for law enforcement. Even now U.S. officials
are considering proposals to spend to pour another $1 billion to fight a
bloody, losing effort against drug traffickers in Colombia.

Drug abuse is a terrible problem. It causes enormous pain, tragedy and harm
to users, children and loved ones. But an effective strategy would be one
that offered likely candidates treatment instead of prison, and that brought
not just drug cops into drug-infested communities, but also health care,
clean needles and after-school programs. Sadly, most politicians are
addicted to drug war rhetoric. Maybe Johnson -- who was re-elected in a
landslide after admitting his own drug use -- can help them and the nation
break the drug-war habit.