DEMON DRUG PROPAGANDA DOESN'T CUT IT ANYMORE

America's war on drugs is actually a Raid on Taxpayers. The war
costs an estimated $70 billion a year to prosecute, and the drugs keep
pouring in. But while the War on Drugs may have failed its official
mission, it is a great success as a job-creation program.

Thousands of drug agents, police, detectives, prosecutors, judges,
anti-drug activists, prison guards and their support staffs can thank
the program for their daily bread and health benefits.

The American people are clearly not ready to decriminalize cocaine,
heroine or other hard drugs, but they're well on their way to easing
up on marijuana. A Zogby poll found that nearly half of Americans now
want pot legal and regulated, like alcohol. Few buy into the "demon
drug" propaganda anymore, and for a simple reason: Several countries
have decriminalized marijuana with little effect on public health.

Americans could save a ton of money doing the same. The taxpayers
spend almost $8 billion a year enforcing the ban on marijuana,
according to a report by visiting Harvard economist Jeffrey A. Miron.
State and local governments consume about $5 billion of the total.

The war on pot fills our jails. America arrests 755,000 people every
year for marijuana infractions -- the vast majority for possession,
not dealing. An estimated 80,000 people now sit behind bars on
marijuana offenses.

The Bush administration stoutly supports the campaign against
marijuana, which others think is crazy. Compare the Canadian and
American approach to medical marijuana: The Canadian Postal Service
delivers it right into the mailboxes of Canadian cancer patients. The
U.S. Justice Department invades the patients' backyards and rips out
cannabis plants, even those grown with a state's blessing.

The Bush administration isn't going to last forever, nor is the
patience of Americans paying for and suffering under the ludicrous war
on marijuana. Surely letting sick people smoke marijuana to ease their
discomfort -- 11 states have approved such, including Rhode Island --
would be a good start for a more enlightened drug policy.

For the drug warriors, however, this toe in the water seems a foot in
the door for eventual decriminalization of pot. That's understandable.
Relaxing the rules on marijuana would greatly reduce the need for
their services.

Remember the Supreme Court case two years ago, when Justice Stephen
Breyer innocently suggested that the federal Food and Drug
Administration be asked to rule on whether marijuana had an accepted
medical use? Well, the FDA has just ruled. In a total lie, the FDA
said that no scientific studies back the use of marijuana for medical
purposes. Actually, the prestigious Institute of Medicine issued its
findings in 1999 that marijuana helped patients for pain and for the
relief of nausea and vomiting caused by chemotherapy.

The federal government "loves to ignore our report," John Benson, a
professor of medicine at the University of Nebraska and co-chairman of
the committee that wrote the Institute of Medicine" study, said after
the FDA issued its "advisory."

The Drug Enforcement Administration, which feeds off the drug war,
plays a big part in stopping this and all future efforts to reach
educated opinions on marijuana. Lyle Craker, a University of
Massachusetts authority on medicinal plants, wanted to grow marijuana
for the purpose of evaluating its possible medical uses. The DEA said
no, insisting that he use marijuana from a University of Mississippi
lab. The DEA knows full well that the UMiss pot is low-quality and
therefore useless for study.

The drug warriors' incentive to keep the game going is pretty obvious.
But what's in it for taxpayers?

Miron's Harvard study looked beyond what the public pays to enforce
the marijuana laws. It also investigated how much money would roll in
if marijuana were legal and taxed like alcohol. The answer was over $6
billion in annual tax revenues. Do the math: If government stopped
outlawing marijuana and started taxing it, its coffers would be $14
billion richer every year.

We could use that money. For example, $14 billion could pay for all
the anti-terrorism port-security measures required in the Maritime
Transportation Security Act of 2002.

More than 500 economists of every political stripe have endorsed the
Miron study. Growing numbers of Americans are beginning to agree with
them: The war against marijuana is an expensive failure -- and
pointless, too.