U.S. GOING SOFTER ON DRUGS

WHEN an indoor public smoking ban took effect in the Netherlands in
the summer of 2008, the worry wasn't so much for the one-third of
Dutch adults who smoke cigarettes. Bars and restaurants went
smoke-free without much problem.

A more intriguing concern was for the effect on the uniquely Dutch
institution of marijuana-selling "coffee shops." If a place calls
itself a coffee shop, that means three things: One, there is marijuana
and hash for sale; two, for the price of a coffee, you may sit and
smoke your own; and three, you will not be arrested.

The smoking ban does not apply to marijuana, but Dutch who smoke it
almost always mix it with tobacco. So while the pot is still OK, the
tobacco in the joint isn't. Larger coffee shops have built walls and
separate smoking rooms. Smaller shops make people smoke outside or
hope the authorities will simply tolerate a little illegal tobacco
along with the marijuana.

The Dutch classify marijuana as a "soft drug," which means that, like
alcohol and tobacco, it is best regulated through controlled
distribution. "Hard drugs," such as cocaine and heroin, remain
illegal. But personal drug use is more a health matter than an
arrestable offence.

"Why push drug use underground?" asked Christian Koers, the police
chief for Amsterdam's red-light district. "Then you cannot control it,
and it becomes more popular and more dangerous. "

This idea -- that drugs are both enjoyable and dangerous and thus
better regulated than prohibited by government and sold by criminals
- -- seems common-sense enough, even in America. Until now, the main
opposition to a state's right to legalize marijuana has been the
federal government. But last week, in a major policy shift, the U.S.
Justice Department instructed federal prosecutors not to focus on
"individuals whose actions are in clear and unambiguous compliance
with existing state laws providing for the medical use of marijuana."

In a memo explaining the new guidelines, Deputy Attorney General David
Ogden emphasized that he is not ending the war on drugs. But it's the
first time the federal government has paused and taken a small step
back. Though the change will affect few, at least in some states
doctors and terminal cancer patients should no longer fear arrest.

Thirteen U.S. states have already legalized medicinal marijuana in
some way, and last week Wisconsin jumped on the bandwagon. "It's
pretty hard to say that a doctor actually thinks marijuana would be
helpful and the doctor can't prescribe it, whereas (he) could
prescribe morphine," said Gov. Jim Doyle. "We prescribe much more
dangerous drugs."

Certainly, the legalization of medicinal marijuana has not always been
an unalloyed success. Dispensaries don't always make the best
neighbors, and Los Angeles is trying to reduce their numbers. But it
is nonetheless refreshing to see states and cities debating drug
policy and regulation. As that happens, we should notice how much
easier it is to close a licensed store than an illegal drug corner.

Three years before I became a Baltimore police officer in 1999, I
started my research with the Amsterdam police. The Dutch approach
toward drugs, by and large, works. Without declaring a war,
authorities there have managed to lower addiction rates, limit use and
save lives. The United States, by contrast, spends $50 billion a year
on its war on drugs and leads the world in illegal drug use, with
millions of Americans regularly using marijuana, cocaine and ecstasy.

What we're doing doesn't work.

There is little violence surrounding the private drug trade between
friends, coworkers and family members. The real drug problem, along
with addictive heroin and crystal meth, is illegal public dealing. In
public drug markets, signs of violence are everywhere: Intimidating
groups of youths stand on corners under graffiti memorializing slain
friends; addicts roam the streets and squat in vacant buildings;
"decent" people stay inside when gunshots ring out in the night.

As a police officer, I responded when citizens called 911 to report
drug dealing. And what could I do? When a police car pulls up to a
drug corner, the corner pulls back. Dealers, friends, addicts and
lookouts walk slowly away.

I didn't chase them. If I did, they'd ditch the drugs. What would I do
if I caught them? Charge them with felony running? One of my partners
put it succinctly: "We can't do anything. ... All they pay us to do is
herd junkies."

In Amsterdam, the red-light district is the oldest and most notorious
neighborhood. Two picturesque canals frame countless small pedestrian
alleyways lined with legal prostitutes, bars, porn stores and coffee
shops. In 2008, I visited the local police station and asked about the
neighborhood's problems. I laughed when I heard that dealers of fake
drugs were the biggest police issue -- but it's true.

In America, 37 per cent of adults have tried marijuana; in the
Netherlands the figure is 17 per cent. Heroin usage rates are three
times higher in the United States than in the Netherlands. Crystal
meth, so destructive here, is almost nonexistent there. By any
standard, America has lost the war on drugs.

And just as escalating the drug war over the past three decades hasn't
caused a decrease in supply and demand, there's no good reason to
believe that regulating drugs instead of outlawing them would cause an
increase. If it did, why are drug usage rates in the Netherlands
lower? People start and stop taking drugs for many different reasons,
but the law seems to be low on the list. Ask yourself: Would you shoot
up tomorrow if heroin were legal?

Nobody wants a drug free-for-all; but in fact, that's what we already
have in many communities. What we need is regulation. Distribution
without regulation equals criminals and chaos. People will buy drugs
because they want to get high, and the question is only how and where
they will buy them.

History provides some lessons. The 21st Amendment ending Prohibition
did not force anybody to drink or any city to licence saloons. In
1933, after the failure to ban alcohol, the feds simply got out of the
game. Today, they should do the same -- and last week the Justice
Department took a very small step in the right direction.

We could learn from the experience of the Dutch, from their successes
and failures.

Regulation is hard work, but it's not a war. And it sure beats herding
junkies.