PUBLIC RESPONSE TO OBAMA'S YOUTUBE COMMENT ON DRUG LEGALIZATION SHOWS PROGRESS

In watching the evolving hubbub around President Obama's statement
about drug legalization on Youtube on January 27, when he said, "I
think this is an entirely legitimate topic for debate, [but] I am not
in favor of legalization," I'm reminded of December 7, 1993.

Sitting at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., someone at my
table asked U.S. Surgeon General Joycelyn Elders if she would support
legalizing drugs as a way of curbing drug-related violence. Her
now-famous answer was this: "I do feel we'd markedly reduce our crime
rate if drugs were legalized. I don't know all the ramifications, but
I do feel we need to do some studies. Some other countries that have
legalized drugs, they certainly have shown that there has been a
reduction in their crime rate, and there has been no increase in
their drug rate."

New to the fake conservatism of D.C., I was surprised at the national
outcry that resulted. For days, political commentators and newspaper
editorial boards pulled their hair out, incredulous that President
Clinton's top physician would say something so "irresponsible."

Compare that knee-jerk reaction with today's public response to a
similar remark, except this time it's the actual president who made
the remark. There's much less outcry today, and many people are
actually criticizing Obama for not going farther and declaring that
at least marijuana should be legal.

The differences between the two events and the surrounding
discussions show how far politicians, the political chattering class,
and the public have matured in just 17 years. Indeed, public support
for making marijuana legal was only 25% back then, but now it's 46%
- -- a rise of 1.4% per year.

While I'm glad the president is favoring debate -- rather than
shutting down debate, as his predecessors did -- the rest of his
response was fairly disappointing. Here are my major criticisms of
the president's approach to this debate ...

- -- Public Health Problem: He also said, "I am a strong believer that
we have to think more about drugs as a public health problem." By
definition, removing something from the sphere of criminal justice
requires legalizing or decriminalizing it. If Obama really believes
this, then why continue to treat marijuana use as a crime? For
example, eating gobs of cheeseburgers and eggs is widely considered a
public-health problem, but no one is arguing that such consumers
should be arrested. And it should be noted that cholesterol kills
more people in America every year than have been killed by marijuana
use in all of recorded history.

- -- Obama, the Criminal: Obama is a former user of marijuana and
cocaine, so to oppose the legalization -- or at least the
decriminalization -- of drugs like these is hypocritical. If he's
unwilling to push for substantial drug policy reform, there's only
one way out of the hypocrisy, and that is to turn himself in for
arrest. Having never experienced the negative effects that a criminal
record can have on getting an education or finding a job, it seems
like he is willfully overlooking that if he had been one of the
800,000 people who are arrested for marijuana every year, he would
probably not be where he is.

- -- Shrink Demand: Obama dedicates most of his answer to talking about
how we need to shift taxpayer resources from reducing the supply of
drugs to reducing the demand for drugs. The ideal approach is not to
use taxpayer money for either, and instead to let adults and private
institutions decide for themselves how they want to handle drugs; but
if money must be spent on one side or the other, clearly, the money
should shift from law enforcement and interdiction to drug treatment
and education. Continuing to arrest people for marijuana does nothing
to reduce demand, and is one of the most expensive aspects of the drug war.

It's also worth noting that 100 of the top 100 questions from the
public were about drug policy reform. You read that right.

It wasn't that long ago that discussing the legalization of drugs was
akin to discussing whether it should be legal to dump toxic waste on
the property line between your yard and your neighbor's yard: Both
were such unpopular ideas that there was no need to feature either
debate on TV or newspaper editorial pages.

Now, support or opposition to marijuana policy reform is a common
discussion in the media and at the dinner table; it's now more akin
to discussing school vouchers, with each side polling between 40% and 60%.

The marijuana issue is indeed legitimate, and with support for reform
steadily climbing, it's definitely in the spotlight. But it won't be
that way forever, so if you want to effect change while the wind is
at our backs, you know where to find me.