HOW TO FINALLY WIN THE WAR

Forty years ago this month, President Richard Nixon declared his "War
on Drugs." Now, 40 years later, can we honestly say we've got a
handle on the problem?

No, of course we can't.

The drug scourge continues with its ever-increasing criminality and
murderous violence. It heaps economic hardships on families,
communities and prison systems. Our decades-long drug war gives off
the stinking scent of failure and the undeniable conclusion that the
way we've tackled the problem so far just isn't working.

So how long do we keep doing the same old things before we change
course? Isn't it time for a radical shift in strategy to try to
lessen the impact that the illegal drug trade has had on all of us?

I don't want to make this a political thing, but after reading a
couple of recent reports (more on that below) I've come to the
conclusion that Nixon may have had a sharper focus on how to handle
the drug problem than our current president.

You might think that the conservative Nixon, the president shamed by
Watergate, ordered up a callous punishment-oriented drug control
policy. But he didn't.

Nixon's $155 million "War on Drugs" budget (back in 1971) earmarked
two-thirds of the money to go for treatment and rehabilitation of drug addicts.

Somewhere along the line each succeeding president lost sight of the
idea that if you can cut back on the demand for illegal drugs, you
can cripple the violent trade that sprouts up to supply it.

Today, despite President Obama's statement that "We have to think
more about drugs as a public-health problem," most of our anti-drug
budget goes toward interdiction efforts and punishing people.

Two years ago the White House Drug Czar Gil Kerlikowske claimed the
"War on Drugs" was over, but it sure feels like we're still waging
very expensive combat against an elusive problem that just keeps growing.

So, back to the reports I read.

The first was from an organization called Law Enforcement Against Prohibition.

LEAP is a group of current and former front-line responders to the
War on Drugs. Its members are police, prosecutors, judges, FBI and
DEA agents, corrections officials, military officers and others who
know firsthand what it is like to wage this never-ending war.

They embrace the idea of radical change, fully admitting that
everything they have done in their law enforcement career was for
naught when it comes to stemming the tide of the illegal drug trade.
They passionately urge lawmakers to embrace the idea of legalizing,
regulating and taxing these drugs.

I know, it sounds revolu-tionary.

But imagine the chilling effect it would have on, say, the Mexican
drug cartels.

If there's no more profit in smuggling drugs across the border into
the United States, their violent gangs would lose power and control.
The tens of thousands of drug-related murders each year would
dwindle. America's tax coffers would get much-needed infusions. Drug
addicts could get proper medical help in weaning themselves off their
drug of choice.

Why, they might even become contributing taxpaying citizens!

LEAP isn't the only group of knowledgeable people calling for this
radical move.

Earlier this month a group of internationally known dignitaries,
including former U.S. Secretary of State George Shultz, former
Chairman of the Federal Reserve Paul Volker, former presidents of
several countries and former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan
endorsed the idea. In a report from their Global Commission on Drug
Policy they labeled the War on Drugs a failure and encouraged
nations, worldwide, to pursue the idea of legalization, regulation
and taxation. Hey, it worked with booze when we lifted prohibition
back in the 1930s. Why wouldn't it work now?

I recently wrote in this space about how state lawmakers have
courageously stepped up to the plate to pass their own immigration
laws after Washington's monumental failure to act on that issue. Same
thing here with the nation's drug-related problems.

While Congress wallows in budget battles and sex scandals, 16 states
and the District of Columbia have passed laws legalizing medicinal
marijuana for those with doctor's prescriptions. Fourteen states have
decriminalized possession of small amounts of pot.

For some inane reason the Obama Justice Department silently and
consistently continues to raid legal growers, registered medicinal
marijuana clinics and patients who find relief from marijuana. The
DOJ has conducted nearly 100 such raids in so-called "legal" states,
according to LEAP's report. That's about double the number of such
raids during the President George W. Bush years.

I don't know about you, but I don't want my taxpayer dollars going
for police actions against legally approved operations. What a waste of money!

The day of total drug legalization will come - just as it did with alcohol.

The question is: How many more billions of dollars will we spend
before we finally see it's the logical way to go?