THE TOP 10 THINGS I KNOW ABOUT DRUGS

I know a lot about drugs and the drug war, both personally and
professionally. Drugs have had a positive and a detrimental impact on
my life. I have laughed, played and found inspiration while
intoxicated. I have also struggled, fought and cried because of my
addiction to drugs.

I have spent the last six years working for an organization that is
working to reform drug laws. I have read thousands of newspapers
articles, had thousands of conversations and spent thousands of days
thinking about drugs. What follows are the top 10 (plus one) things I
have learned from my immersion with drugs and the drug war.

1. Drugs are everywhere. Despite a $40 billion a year "war on drugs"
and political speeches about a "drug-free society," our society is
swimming in drugs. Cigarettes, sugar, alcohol, marijuana, Prozac,
Ritalin, Viagra, steroids and caffeine. The vast majority of Americans
use drugs on a regular basis. People always have and always will.

2. Different people have different relationships with different drugs.
My wife is someone who can enjoy an occasional cigarette and only
smokes when she drinks. I am an addict who cannot control my cigarette
problem. If I have one cigarette, I will end up smoking a pack a day.
Some people have serious problems with alcohol and can't enjoy even a
single drink. I can handle alcohol and enjoy a drink or two some
nights, leave it alone on others, and I rarely have negative
experiences with it. Different strokes for different folks.

3. People use drugs for joy and for pain. Many people enjoy using
mind- and body-altering substances. How many of us enjoy having some
drinks and going out dancing? How many of us enjoy a little smoke
after a nice dinner with friends? Many people bond with others or find
inspiration alone while high on drugs.

On the flip side, many people self-medicate to try to ease the pain in
their lives. How many have us have had too much to drink to drown our
sorrows over a breakup or some other painful event? How many of us
smoke cigarettes to deal with anxiety or stress?

4. Drug abuse does not discriminate, but our drug policies do. Rush
Limbaugh, Noelle Bush and Patrick Kennedy remind us that drug
addiction does not discriminate. Unfortunately, our drug policies do.
Ninety-three percent of the people incarcerated under New York's
draconian Rockefeller drug laws are black or Latino, despite equal
drug use among blacks and whites. Treatment for the privileged, jail
for the poor.

5. Relapse happens. Anyone who has tried to quit cigarettes knows that
relapse happens. I have unsuccessfully tried to quit cigarettes 15
times. While we know that drug treatment is more humane and more
effective than prison, it is not a silver bullet. Many people will
quit, relapse and need support to quit again.

6. Smoking five cigarettes is better than smoking 20. Using marijuana
is better than using heroin. Many well-intentioned people think drugs
are terrible and abstinence is always the answer. I believe that
progress can be made, even if someone continues to use drugs. My
70-year-old landlord is a pack-a-day smoker. After some serious health
problems, he is now down to smoking two cigarettes a day. This is
progress. Some people who have struggled with heroin have been able to
quit heroin, but still use marijuana. Our criminal justice system and
many in the abstinence-only treatment world would view this as a
failure and send the marijuana smoker to jail. I say congrats on
giving up heroin. Keep it up.

7. Drug abuse is bad, but the drug war is worse. Locking someone up in
a cage for using marijuana or some other drug when no harm has been
done to anyone else is cruel and inhumane. People who prohibit clean
syringes to reduce the spread of HIV have blood on their hands.
Denying financial aid to students who have a drug offense is
counterproductive. Many of our country's laws are more harmful than
the substances they are trying to combat.

8. Prohibition doesn't work. Prohibition is responsible for most of
the violence associated with drugs. We tried to prohibit alcohol in
the 1920s. It did not get rid of alcohol, but it did create a black
market for hooch, and empowered and enriched violent gangsters like Al
Capone. Marijuana and cocaine are not responsible for the drug war
shootouts. What is responsible is the fact that both are worth more
than gold because they are illegal. It is the underground trade of
these drugs that causes people to kill each other over the right to
sell them. No one is shooting anyone else over a Budweiser anymore.

9. Drugs and the drug war touch most families. Almost every family in
America has to deal with drug addiction or the war on drugs. Millions
of people have a loved one behind bars on drug charges. Many millions
more have struggled themselves or have a loved one who has dealt with
addiction to illegal or legal drugs. By declaring a "war on drugs" we
have declared a war on ourselves.

10. We have to learn how to live with drugs, because they aren't going
anywhere. The drug war has been waged over the last 30 years.
Currently we have 500,000 people behind bars on drug charges. We spend
$40 billion a year, and despite the decades of war, incarceration
rates and money spent, drugs are as plentiful as ever and easily
accessible. We have to accept that drugs have been around for
thousands of years and will be here for thousands more. We need to
educate people about the possible harm from drug use, offer compassion
and treatment to people who have problems and leave in peace the
people who are causing harm to no one.

*Bonus point: The public is ahead of the politicians. The majority of
Americans supports treatment instead of incarceration. Californian
voters passed Proposition 36 in 2000. Since its passage, more than
60,000 people have received treatment instead of jail for their
nonviolent drug offenses. Eleven states have approved medical
marijuana for sick and dying patients. It is the timid politicians who
are resistant to change. We need to continue to demonstrate to our
leaders that we want an end to the war on our families. If the people
lead, the leaders will follow.