IS WAR ON DRUGS WORTH IT? MAYBE NOT, NEW FBI DATA SUGGEST.

Many law enforcement officers now say the drug interdiction effort is
costly and unsuccessful. The bulk of drug arrests in 2008 were for
simple possession, almost half for marijuana.

Atlanta - Every 18 seconds, an American is busted for drug
possession, according to Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) crime
statistics released Monday.

The new statistics point to a continued emphasis on drug interdiction
- - otherwise known as the "war on drugs" - that more and more law
enforcement officers are now questioning. While many experts hold the
anti-drug campaign to be the key reason for the decline in the crime
rate in the US, especially violent crime, since the 1990s, these
police officers, as well as current and retired judges and
prosecutors see, instead, thousands of American lives ruined for
small drug infractions in a costly and possibly unwinnable "war."

"Not only do these officers see the terrible results that their work
has had on individuals' lives, but a lot of what I hear from beat
officers and undercover narcotics agents is they've seen colleagues
die in the line of fire trying to enforce laws that have no positive
impacts," says Tom Angell, a spokesman for Law Enforcement Against
Prohibition (LEAP) in Washington. "For a lot of them, this is about
trying to keep good cops alive by repealing stupid prohibition laws."

According to the latest FBI figures, 82.3 percent of all drug arrests
in 2008 were for possession, and 44.3 percent of these for possession
of marijuana. Arrests totalled more than 1.7 million.

"You can get over an addiction, but you will never get over a
conviction, said Jack Cole, a retired undercover narcotics agent and
LEAP director, in a statement Tuesday about the "collateral
consequences" of the war on drugs.

Changing attitudes

The emergence of frontline officers speaking out against the war on
drugs is helping to kindle a debate about legalization of drugs
across the US, says Mr. Angell. It is even driving a Congressional
bill written by Sen. Jim Webb (D) of Virigina to establish a new Blue
Ribbon justice system panel that would take a serious look at drug
legalization.

The US could gain $77 billion in revenue a year by legalizing - and
taxing - marijuana, cocaine and heroin, says LEAP.

Culturally, attitudes about drugs may be changing. A Zogby poll in
May showed for that the first time a majority of Americans favor
decriminalizing marijuana. States such as Massachusetts and
California have already taken steps in that direction.

"[Most] drugs are more readily available at lower prices today than
when Nixon declared a war against it," says Norm Stamper, a former
Seattle police chief and a staunch proponent of drug legalization,
referring in part to the lower price of marijuana.

However, White House "drug czar" Gil Kerlikowske recently said,
"Legalization is not in the president's vocabulary and it's not in mine."

Sending the wrong message?

Pro-legalization groups are missing the forest for the trees, says
Gregory D. Lee, a retired Drug Enforcement Administration agent. He
says the dwindling crime rate across the US is directly correlated to
the government's investment in border and street interdiction.

"Legalization sends a message that it's okay to do drugs when in
reality these drugs have a tremendous impact on the future of the
people who take them," he says. "[Under legalization], the crime rate
would rise because of crimes committed by people under the influence
of these substances."

Mr. Lee points to the rising price of cocaine in the US as a sign
that domestic and international interdiction is working. "The war on
drugs," he says, "is being won."