REAGAN TURNS 100

Media Fawning Ignores His Disastrous "War on Drugs"!

Did you know that former President Ronald Reagan turns 100 on February
6? If you didn't, you will soon -- we're about to witness an avalanche
of press timed to his birthday.

USA Today went big today with the Reagan birthday story, with a front
page cover article and a whole editorial page reminiscing and
reflecting on the legacy of "The Gipper". Their editorial page
consists of short pieces by elected officials and VIPs, from President
Obama to John McCain to Sarah Palin, weighing in on Reagan's legacy.

Both Democrats and Republicans consistently pay tribute to Reagan's
"optimism" and "strength". It was "Morning in America" and Reagan has
an "unshakable faith" in America. There is the iconic image of a
smiling Reagan with his cowboy hat. I imagine that even Ronald Reagan
himself -- the actor, performer and president -- would be surprised by
these uncritically reverential portrayals.

But Reagan was much more divisive than his contemporary hagiographers
concede, as they conveniently overlook the growing economic and social
disparities that defined his policies. I can't reflect on Reagan
without reflecting on what Reagan meant for an issue very close to my
heart: America's "war on drugs".

I have spent the last 11 years working at the Drug Policy Alliance, an
organization that believes the war on drugs is a failure and substance
abuse should be a health issue, not a criminal issue. Ronald Reagan
brings up different memories than those that the media portrays -- and
they are not the sunny, feel-good ones that are being evoked by our
elected leaders.

While Richard Nixon officially launched the drug war in 1971, his war
was modest compared to Reagan's war. Reagan's presidency marked the
start of a long period of skyrocketing rates of incarceration, largely
thanks to his unprecedented expansion of the drug war. The number of
people behind bars for nonviolent drug law violations increased from
50,000 in 1980 to more than 400,000 by 1997.

Ronald Reagan and his wife Nancy made the "drug crisis" one of their
signature issues and our country is still suffering the consequences
of their actions. While the public hysteria that they whipped up has
now subsided, we're still stuck with the same draconian,
zero-tolerance policies that were implemented in the 1980s.

Who can forget Nancy Reagan sitting in classrooms and all over our
television sets with her simplistic "Just Say No" campaign? It was
during this time that the DARE programs were implemented in schools
across the country, despite their lack of effectiveness. Los Angeles
Police Chief Daryl Gates, who believed that "casual drug users should
be taken out and shot," founded the DARE program, which was quickly
adopted nationwide.

Reagan's "war at home" was not only ineffective, it was disastrous.
Upon taking office in 1981, Reagan shifted drug control resources from
health agencies to the Department of Justice. It was under Reagan's
guidance in 1986 that the worst of the federal mandatory minimum drug
laws were passed into law. These laws included the crack sentencing
guidelines that meant that someone possessing just 5 grams (two sugar
packets) worth of crack received an automatic 5 years in prison. These
laws filled our prisons for decades with low-level drug users.

The irony is that Reagan's own daughter developed a cocaine problem,
but I don't imagine Reagan pushed for her to serve 5 years in a cage
for her addiction.

Ronald Reagan's harsh drug policies not only led to exploding prisons,
they blocked expansion of syringe exchange programs and other harm
reduction policies that could have prevented hundreds of thousands of
people from contracting HIV and dying from AIDS.

While Ronald and Nancy Reagan were demonizing people who use drugs at
home, their foreign policy objectives included funding the Contras in
Nicaragua who played a role in flooding Los Angeles and other cities
in the United States with crack cocaine.

It's interesting that in all of the press I've read so far celebrating
Ronald Reagan, I have not seen one word about his radical escalation
of the drug war. No word about the exploding prison populations that
continue today to bankrupt our state budgets. No word about the war on
science and public health that led to so many people contracting HIV
- -- when the evidence was clear that clean syringes don't increase drug
use but do save lives. No words about the militarization of our
country, from cops in the schools to SWAT teams routinely breaking
down doors.

It is predictable that the press will use what would have been Ronald
Reagan's 100th birthday to reflect on the former president. But before
we enshrine him as a saint, let's take a more comprehensive look past
the image of the handsome guy riding a horse with a cowboy hat and a
winning smile.