THE ETERNAL DRUG WAR

The Afghanistan war sometimes seems interminable. It just became the
longest hot war in U.S. history. Europe's Hundred Years War remains
the world record holder, but things moved slower back then. Pentagon
officials appear to dream of setting a new record in Kabul.

Meanwhile, our War on Drugs is quietly building its own longevity
record. This war dates back to the Nixon administration and shows
little sign of abating. The latest skirmish just concluded with
California's failed pot referendum.

Attorney General Eric Holder's troops, amply funded by the generous
liquor and prison industries, fought off a determined attack by Drug
War realists and pot smokers aimed at regulating (legalizing)
marijuana. Luckily for Holder, his side had more money. Yet on that
same Election Day, Arizona became the 15th state to approve medical
marijuana -- a testament to the public's indifference to the war's moralizers.

Elsewhere, this war isn't going well. Who knows how many luckless
folks were murdered in Mexico, caught in the destructive drug-fueled
gang violence? Mexico has decriminalized small amounts of most drugs
to drain some oomph out of that violence, with little impact. The
violence helps control the transport of drugs to the north of the
U.S. border -- not the south.

Our marijuana use keeps climbing, despite the Drug War. The Golden
State grows so much cannabis that even if California's voters had
passed Proposition 19, local smugglers might have been largely
unaffected. Nationally though, Big Liquor was truly worried. Not only
would legal pot have cut into its business, but a recent study
concluded that alcohol is even more socially destructive than heroin.
Marijuana seems tame by comparison.

The prison industry was also anxious about the outcome of
California's vote. Current drug laws keep those for-profit jails
brimming with small-time users who pose no threat to anyone. This
front of the war keeps plenty of cops, guards, prosecutors,
defenders, wardens, and builders and suppliers of prisons out of the
unemployment lines.

Not to be seen as impotent, Congress leapt into action, doing what it
does best. It created a blue-ribbon commission. No doubt this group
will be so broad-based that nothing will come of it. Those with a
financial interest in the war will drown out those who really want
something done.

The commission would do well to consider the example of other
countries. Portugal, though a financial basket case, leads the way on
drug reform. It has decriminalized just about everything and has
reaped the benefits of less crime, less law enforcement, and even
less drug usage. Switzerland leads in treating heroin medically
instead of criminally, with a similar happy outcome. Canada is
following suit, over stern U.S. protests. President Barack Obama has
promised vastly expanded needle exchanges, but little has happened.

Meanwhile our aggressive cocaine eradication assault in Colombia has
driven much of the production to Peru. A similar assault on key poppy
provinces in Afghanistan has successfully driven heroin production
elsewhere. Whoopie! Attacking sources of drug supplies works about as
well now as similar approaches did during Prohibition.

Despite the Drug War's horrific casualties, most elected leaders are
fearful of seeking peace. Some of their campaign donors would lose
profits, and their opponents could stir up fear and hate. Sounds a
lot like the War on Terror.