AMERICA NEEDS AN HONEST RESPONSE TO DRUG PROBLEM

As staggering as the numbers are in the so-called war on drugs, they
pale in comparison to the human costs to sate America's greedy
appetite for illicit drugs.

Yet after decades of pouring hundreds of billions of dollars into the
biggest boondoggle the American government has ever undertaken, as a
country, we live in denial that we can't even lay victory to a single
battle, and that there is no hope, ever, of winning such a war.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will take heat once again for
acting responsibly and telling Central American governments about how
sad it is that America's drug habit works to destroy the societies of
countries like Guatemala.

The United States under the Obama administration recognizes and
accepts its share of responsibility for the problems posed by drug
trafficking in this region," Clinton said ahead of talks in that
region on how to combat the endless industry that fuels a massive and
explosively violent criminal drug trade.

The United States spends more than $40 billion a year on uselessly
trying to stop drugs from entering the country, stop people here from
using them and warehousing those that are caught with them.

Meanwhile, the illegal $400-billion-a-year industry grows each year
as thousands of people die from thug fights in Mexico and other Latin
American countries.

It's a scourge unlike any other in our part of the world.

And yet critics of this administration pooh-pooh the talk and scold
the Obama team for apologizing for the havoc America wreaks on others
because of our appetite for marijuana, cocaine and heroin, and
because we hand the distribution of those drugs over to ruthless
criminals all over the world.

No one is asking for the United States to stand back and allow for a
free-for-all in drug trade, but, clearly, current U.S. drug policy is
beyond dysfunctional; it's a major part of the problem.

Rather than spend billions on making criminals out of psychiatric
patients, the U.S. government should do more to discourage drug use.
It should immediately decriminalize the use of small amounts of
marijuana and regulate that industry just like it does alcohol.

There are no easy or obvious answers as to how to reduce demand for
narcotics, but there is no doubt that the current system here, and
allowing drug gangs and cartels to handle the $400-billion supply
system, is beyond broken.

As a country, we must accept the good advice we give to all addicts:
being honest and realistic is the first step in ending the addiction.
We must stop lying to ourselves about our national drug habit and the
consequences it has on entire nations.

No one knows what the road to success here looks like, but we know
which road doesn't lead to it and we're on it.