THE DRUG WAR IS BEING LOST

[mid-column caption] It's Time To Reopen Debate Over Legalization

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 or 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 Colombian 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 could buy plenty of stock in pharmaceutical companies.