JUST SAY 'I'M WILLING TO THINK ABOUT IT'

Jack Cole was driving from Norwich to Hamden with his latest convert
in an emerging movement to legalize marijuana. Just so happens that
the new recruit is a retired cop. No, he's not undercover.

Actually, it's no surprise that former Manchester Capt. Joseph Brooks
signed up for Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, a
Massachusetts-based advocacy group of which Cole is executive
director. Most of the 12,000 members are law enforcement types who
share at least one thing in common: They want to make marijuana legal.

I'm evolving on this. While still conflicted about whether
decriminalizing or legalizing illicit drugs essentially condones
their use, I also realize that the government can't continue spending
billions punishing behavior that it has not been able to slow or stop
in the past 40 years.

We've gotta try another approach. Twenty-two states, including
neighboring Massachusetts, have decriminalized marijuana.

"I have long felt that the attempt to legalize morality such as
marijuana use was a waste of time," said Brooks, 68, who once
commanded a tri-town narcotics task force. "We've been shoveling sand
against the tide."

The tide may be shifting in Connecticut. Two weeks ago, the
legislature's judiciary committee voted to decriminalize possession
of less than half an ounce of ganja by those 18 and older. Instead of
being a crime, with a penalty of up to one year in jail and a fine
not to exceed $1,000, possession would be an infraction. The maximum
fine: $250. The governor has already said she will veto the bill if
it gets approved by the House and Senate. That's a big IF. But
getting an endorsement from the judiciary committee is a big deal.

I've talked to several passionate drug law reform advocates over the
years, including Connecticut's Cliff Thornton. Whenever I talk to
Thornton, he wears me out with compelling data and information. (I've
taken to privately calling him 'Spliff.' )

The most convincing voices, though, come from folks whose careers
were spent as soldiers in the failed war on drugs. They saw the
carnage and the squandered resources. Cole, 70, is a retired New
Jersey State Police lieutenant. He worked 14 years undercover,
including investigating what he described as a billion-dollar
international heroin and cocaine ring.

One problem with this drug decriminalization effort is that it could
create uneven laws. For example, it is a felony to sell marijuana,
but, if the drug reform law passes, it would be less than a
misdemeanor to possess it. Heck of a message that sends.

"That's why we're not for decriminalizing drugs," Cole said. "We are
for legalizing drugs. When you decriminalize, you only decriminalize
for the user. Everybody else in the chain is still a criminal. That
means it's still worthwhile for distributors to kill each other to
control their portion of that very lucrative market."

The drug-related mayhem and murders in Mexico are Exhibit A. While
I'm bending on softening the marijuana laws, and even the idea of
taxing its sale, I'm not willing yet to go there with heroin and
cocaine. Plus, whenever I ask the reform advocates about the
unintended consequences of legalizing drugs, such as joblessness,
homelessness, increased addictions, motor vehicle accidents from
drug-addled drivers, etc., I feel like I get the runaround. I'm
willing, though, to advance the conversation about this.

Next year, Connecticut will spend $709 million for a cottage industry
- - its prison system - that houses 19,000 inmates. The large majority
of them are in for drug-related offenses.

"Just Say No" no longer makes sense.