THE WAR ON DRUGS IS LOST

Americans have a tendency to declare war on abstractions. We've
declared war on terror, on poverty, and of course, our war on drugs.
This vague idea of drugs as an enemy that's conquerable is why drugs
are winning.

This war began back in Nixon's era, when in 1971 he said drug abuse
is "public enemy number one in the United States."

Ironically, it was during his administration that the majority of
funds for the "war" went toward treatment, rather than law enforcement.

The trend did not last. The proof lies in the ever-growing number of
drug offenders in our prisons, which tells one compelling and
disturbing story: That the war on drugs is not so much on drugs as it
is on people, and because of that, it's failing.

This theory is not new. People have been calling for drug policy
reform for years. People like Norm Stamper, retired police chief for
Seattle and a speaker for LEAP (Law Enforcement Against Prohibition.)

"It's not hard to understand the reasons for all this reform
agitation: dismal economic conditions; impossible pressures on the
criminal justice system (especially our overpopulated prisons);
escalating fears of drug cartel violence, and their insidious,
expanding influence; and moral outrage at the damage the drug war has
done our families and communities," Stamper wrote in his Oct. 7 blog
on huffingtonpost.com.

The war is more of a mass sweeping under the rug. Drug dealers and
addicts are put in prison, where most will not receive treatment or
job training. If and when people are released, depending on which
state they're incarcerated in, the system generally sends them right
back to where they were arrested. Authorities arrest people in
indiscriminate groups and call it an "amazing drug bust."

A casual pot smoker caught at the wrong place at the wrong time may
spend years in prison. A crack addict may spend a couple months
incarcerated, then be released without treatment or any support. A
non-violent drug dealer could get more time than a murderer.

About 40 years after the war began, it seems the casualties are
mostly ours. Drugs have become more potent while billions are spent
trying to prevent people from obtaining them. (It hasn't worked.)

Interdiction raises the price for drugs, which raises the profits for
those selling them. As job losses increase, selling drugs may seem to
some the only viable option. In many places, it's the only way people
know how to live.

The war on drugs is actually a war on everyone. Increased prison
populations, the destruction of neighborhoods, families and
individuals due to what Stamper calls "the ruinous nature of our drug
laws" will in the end leave no one untouched.

Drop the moral outrage at the idea of drugs and gain the moral
outrage for fellow human beings suffering and being punished for it.

The war is over, and we lost. We need to acknowledge that and try
something else.