TOP 8 DRUG STORIES OF 2010: MOMENTUM IS BUILDING TO END THE FAILED DRUG WAR

It's been a difficult year for progressives, and most other Americans
as well. While I feel discouraged about many things happening in our
country and around the world, and have lost lots of my "Yes We Can"
glow from only two years ago, the issue that is closest to my heart --
ending the war on people who use drugs -- continues to bring me hope
and cautious optimism.

The debate around failed marijuana prohibition and the larger drug war
arrived in a big way in 2010. Below are some of the most significant
stories from 2010 and the reasons why I'm encouraged that we can start
finding an exit strategy from America's longest running war.

1) California's Vote on Legalizing Marijuana Inspires Worldwide
Debate

Proposition 19, the initiative to control and tax marijuana in
California, was arguably the highest profile voter initiative in the
nation. It generated thousands of stories in the United States and
around the world about the pros and cons of marijuana prohibition.
Millions of people for the first time had serious conversations about
whether we should continue to arrest and incarcerate people for
marijuana or if we should take it out of the illicit market and
regulate it. In the end, Prop. 19 received more than 46% of the vote,
more votes that GOP Governor Candidate Meg Whitman. The take-away from
California is not will marijuana ever be legal, but when.

2) President Obama Signed Historic Legislation Reducing Crack/Powder
Cocaine Sentencing Disparity

In August, President Obama signed the Fair Sentencing Act, reforming
the draconian disparity between crack and powder cocaine prison
sentences. Before the change, a person with just five grams of crack
received a mandatory sentence of five years in prison. That same
person would have to possess 500 grams of powder cocaine to earn the
same punishment. This discrepancy, known as the 100-to-1 ratio, was
enacted in the late 1980s and was based on myths about crack cocaine
being more dangerous than powder cocaine. Unfortunately, the Democrats
made serious comprises to get Republicans to support the Fair
Sentencing Act. The original bill that would have completely
eliminated the 100-to-1 disparity, but insteadthe compromise reduced
the disparity to 18:1. Most troubling was that that the reform was not
applied retroactively - which means that none of the tens of thousand
of people unfairly languishing in cages will find any relief from the
new law. That said, the reform of these laws is the first repeal of a
mandatory minimum drug sentence since the 1970s.

3) Media Coverage is Fair, Balanced and Thoughtful

For the first time, the media consistently covered the marijuana
debate seriously and without the jokes and giggle factor that
accompanied stories in the past. For the first time they started
including anti-prohibition voices that pointed out that much of the
violence in the drug trade is due to prohibition and not the drug
itself. There were cover stories in a range of outlets and magazines,
including Time Magazine, the Washington Post Magazine, and the Nation.
The Associated Press deserves a Pulitzer Prize for its "Impact Series"
on the Drug War. Back in May, AP dropped a bombshell on America's
longest war and the headline said it all: The US Drug War Has Met None
of its Goals. The extensive piece reviewed the last 40 years, starting
with President Nixon's official launch of the War on Drugs all the way
to President Obama's annual strategy released this year. The piece
packed a punch from the start: "After 40 years, the United States' War
on Drugs has cost $1 trillion dollars and hundreds of thousands of
lives, and for what? Drug use is rampant and violence more brutal and
widespread."

4) Portugal Shows Us Decriminalization of Drugs Works

A new study, published in November in the British Journal of
Criminology, shows that Portugal's decriminalization of drugs in 2001
has led to reductions in student drug use, prison overcrowding, drug
related deaths and HIV/ AIDS. In July 2001, Portugal decriminalized
the possession of up to ten days' supply of all types of illicit
drugs. Before the law went into effect the pro-drug war zealots
predicted that the sky would fall and chaos would reign if drug were
decriminilazed. Nine years later, the sky hasn't fallen and having
drug use addressed as a heath issue instead of a criminal issue has
been proven to saves lives and money. Portugal shows us that drugs can
be decriminalized in the real world, not only in theory.

5) Facebook Founders Fund Drug Policy Reform

While the Social Network movie about Facebook was the number one movie
in the country, two former top Facebook executives featured in the
film, Dustin Moskovitz and Sean Parker, both became major funders of
drug policy reform by donating $50,000 and $100,000 to the California
marijuana ballot initiative. The drug policy reform movement has
greatly benefitted from the generous support of funders like George
Soros, Peter Lewis and John Sperling. Mr. Moskovitz and Mr. Parker can
also play a crucial role in supporting the reform movement.

6) California Makes Possession of Under One Ounce of Marijuana an
Infraction -- Similar to a Speeding Ticket

In addition to the debate, coalition building, and public education
that Prop. 19 generated, it also led to concrete victories:Governor
Schwarzenegger signed into law a bill that will reduce the penalty for
marijuana possession from a misdemeanor to a non-arrestable
infraction, like a traffic ticket. That's no small matter in a state
where arrests for marijuana possession totaled 61,000 last year --
roughly triple the number in 1990. It's widely assumed that the
principal reason the governor signed the bill, which had been
introduced by a liberal state senator, Mark Leno, was to undermine one
of the key arguments in favor of Prop 19.

7) Leaders from Around the World Call for Legalization
Debate

Although President Obama and his Drug Czar have repeated said that
legalization is not in their vocabulary, the L-word is being talked
about like never before among leaders around the world. This year
Mexico President Calderoncalled for a debate on drug legalisation to
help reduce the bloody war in Mexico. Former Mexico President Vicente
Fox has since gone further and called for an end to prohibition. Just
last week, United Kingdom's Bob Ainsworth, the former drugs and
defense minister, called for the legalisation and regulation of drugs.
All of this follows a 2009 report by three former Latin American
Presidents, Fernando Henrique Cardoso of Brazil, Cesar Gaviria of
Colombia and Ernesto Zedillo of Mexico, where they called the drug war
a failure and emphasized the need to "break the taboo" on an open and
honest discussion on international drug policy.

8) New and Powerful Voices Join Movement to End Failed Drug
War

Prop. 19 inspired an unprecedented coalition in support of reforming
our futile and wasteful marijuana laws. A diverse coalition from
across the political spectrum came together to "Just Say No" to failed
marijuana prohibition. Law enforcement, including the National Black
Police Association and National Latino Officers Association, spoke out
in support of Prop. 19. Moms spoke out powerfully for tax and regulate
because if is safer for their children than prohibition. The
California NAACP and the Latino Voters League endorsed Prop. 19,
specifically citing the chilling racial disparities in the enforcement
of marijuana laws. Students for Sensible Drug Policy organized on
campuses around the state. Finally, organized labor - from the Service
Employees International Union to the longshoremen to food to
communications workers -- for the first time offered endorsements
because controlling and regulating marijuana will mean jobs and
revenue that the state currently cedes to criminal cartels and the
black market.

There's More Opportunities for Reform than Ever, But the War on Drugs
Grinds On

For all the recent progress, drug policy reformers are under no
illusion that the drug war will end any time soon. With the Democrats'
"shellacking" in November, it is even more unclear how much change
will be coming out of Washington in 2011 and beyond. We know that drug
prohibition and our harsh drug laws - fueled by a prison-industrial
complex that locks up 500,000 of our fellow Americans on drug-related
offenses - are poised to continue for some time, wasting tens of
billions of dollars and leading to thousands of deaths each year. But
we are clearly moving in the right direction, toward a more rational
drug policy based on compassion, health, science and human rights. We
need people to continue to join the movement to end this unwinnable
war. If the people lead, the leaders will follow.

Tony Newman is communications director for the Drug Policy Alliance.