PANEL DISCUSSES U.S. WAR ON DRUGS

Adam Smith, associate director of Drug Reform Coordination Network, was the
keynote speaker on an eight-member panel discussing drug policy reform
Sunday night.

The event, "A New Paradigm for an Old Predicament" was sponsored by the
University of Wisconsin Students for a Sensible Drug Policy.

Adam Smith, a national drug policy expert, began by quoting New Mexico Gov.
Gary Johnson, who proclaimed the drug war was a "failure."

He continued by listing many of the problems with the current drug war.

"In 1980, just over $1 billion was spent on the drug war budget," Smith
said. "Today that figure is $17 billion."

Smith said there are two distinct drug policies in the U.S. "One policy
applies to white and middle- and upper-class Americans while the other
applies to non-whites and the poor," he said.

While African Americans make up 12 percent of the population, he said, they
account for 12 percent of all drug users, 37 percent of those arrested for
drug crimes, 54 percent of those convicted and nearly 70 percent of those
incarcerated for drug crimes.

In order to emphasize the futility of fighting the illegal drug trade, he
mentioned the scale of the problem.

"To give you an idea of how pervasive this is, international illicit drug
trade is $400 billion, 8 percent of all global trade," Smith said.

He refuted the argument that the drug war is protecting the 68 million
children in America.

"In 1998, more than 90 percent of high schoolers said illicit drugs were
easy to obtain," Smith said. "There is not a single drug-free school in
America".

The problem is that current drug prohibition tells kids all drugs are evil,
then children lose faith in authority figures when they find out they were
lied to, Smith said.

Marijuana activist Ben Masel, organizer of the Great Midwest Marijuana
Harvest Festival, spoke about the false propaganda drug war advocates use.

"The truth is the first casualty in war," he said.

Masel said he feels prohibition makes illicit drugs more dangerous.

"Prohibition means no quality control for illegal drugs," Masel said.

Diane Nicks, Dane County district attorney, was open to suggestions
regarding improvements to the current drug war.

"I would be in favor of a solution that provides maximum safety for the
community and minimal incarceration," she said. "I would like to hear more
about what we can do that would involve less criminal prosecution."

Attorney David Lasker, chairman of the Individual Rights and
Responsibilities Section of the State Bar of Wisconsin, spoke in favor of
legalization of illicit drugs.

"The ugliness of our culture comes from the drug policies in our country
today ... and is a vehicle for racism," Lasker said.

Captain Ellen Schwarz of the Madison Police Department said if legalizing
drugs would eliminate a lot of the criminal problems, then the department
would be in favor of the policy.

Furthermore, community activist Eugene Parks spoke vehemently against the
current drug war.

"This is not a war on drugs but a euphemism for a war on race and class,"
Parks said. "How can anybody talk about a war on drugs when we live in a
drug society?"

John Nichols, The Capital Times editorial page editor, proposed several
solutions to the problem.

"My suggestions is that the time has come for young people to become more
active, demand a better media and become politically engaged," he said.