THE 'WAR ON DRUGS' IS OVER

The Obama Administration Is Moving Toward Demilitarizing a Health Problem.

The Obama administration is saying all the right things about the
jumble of ineffective and vindictive laws, policies and practices
that have made up this nation's so-called war on drugs. Shortly after
he was confirmed, Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr. announced that he
would halt Drug Enforcement Administration raids on medical marijuana
dispensaries. Then the Justice Department urged Congress to eliminate
the 100-to-1 sentencing disparity in convictions for dealing crack
and powder cocaine, which imposed long prison terms on predominantly
black defendants.

The most recent reassurance comes from the new drug czar, R. Gil
Kerlikowske. In an interview with the Wall Street Journal this week,
Kerlikowske said it's time to retire the phrase "war on drugs." Good.
It's as misguided as the policies it frames. "Regardless of how you
try to explain to people it's a 'war on drugs' ... people see a war
as a war on them," he said. "We're not at war with people in this
country." These sensible pronouncements inspire hope that the
administration is moving toward a more rational approach to drugs.
There is much to do.

For example, the DEA apparently did not get the memo about raids; it
carried out one the day after Holder's announcement. And although
Holder's refusal to deploy federal resources against the clinics is a
welcome respite, we're still left with the conflict between state and
federal marijuana laws. Also, as a candidate, Barack Obama said he
supported lifting the federal ban on needle exchange programs, which
study after study concludes slows transmission of HIV/AIDS. President
Obama's budget, however, leaves it in place. Administration officials
say he now believes the public needs persuading.

It's in that context that Kerlikowske's comments matter: By thinking
of drug users as combatants in a war, the nation militarized a health
problem. The phrase itself shaped flawed thinking and yielded
disastrous policies. When he campaigned for the presidency, Obama
promised bold change on drugs. The old paradigm should follow the
now-discarded phrase into history.