SUPPORT THE FAILED WAR ON DRUGS? YOU MUST BE STONED

Four decades ago, Richard Nixon was casting around for a new enemy to
shore up support for his unique brand of uncompassionate
conservatism.

Having risen to national prominence as an anti-communist campaigner,
then turning his attention to crime, he found a new foe in the 1970s
counter-culture.

The media was full of stories of clean-cut young men returning from
Vietnam as wrecked junkies, while intellectuals such as Timothy Leary
were promoting the use of LSD. So Nixon, elected on a wafer-thin
margin and desperate to turn back the tide of permissiveness, declared
war on drugs.

"America's public enemy number one is drug abuse," he
thundered.

While the Vietnam conflict has faded into history, thousands are dying
and millions of lives are still being destroyed in his insane
struggle. Fittingly, since it was launched by a president who turned
out to be a crook, the biggest beneficiaries have been the most
murderous gangsters on the globe as they rip apart country after
country. Yet our leaders limp on in this self-defeating, US$100
billion-a-year ($123 billion) war.

The latest salvo in the struggle came when a host of distinguished
names gathered under the banner of the Global Commission on Drug
Policy to urge a truce. Their thoughtful report pointed out a series
of obvious truths underlying how the war has backfired so terribly,
and called for policies based on treatment rather than
prosecution.

Look at the rise in drug use. In 1998, the United Nations committed
member states to achieve a "drug-free world", pledging to eliminate or
"significantly reduce" the use of opium, cannabis and cocaine by 2008.
Instead, global opiate use rose by more than one-third over that time,
with big rises also for cocaine and cannabis. It is estimated that
almost 5 per cent of the world's adults take illegal drugs.

Worse is the damage done by gangs fighting over the huge profits
created by the illegality of this trade.

The drug trade is so lucrative that in several countries - some which
signed up to those sanctimonious UN pledges - gangs have bought or
fought their way to power.

There are so many arguments against current policies it is hard to
believe anyone who is not stoned still signs up to Nixon's war.

The vast costs, the crime waves, the racial dimensions, the
stigmatisation, the futility. Then there is the dreadful hypocrisy of
politicians who use and tax the lethal drug of alcohol, then jail
others who enjoy less-damaging relaxants such as marijuana and ecstasy.

The key question is why? After all, we live in a world in which
grandparents took acid or smoked pot while listening to the Grateful
Dead, and many parents were the people who dropped ecstasy at outdoor
raves.

The current occupant of the White House has confessed to taking
cocaine, while several British Cabinet ministers have admitted to
smoking weed.

Drug use is no longer that big a deal, while it is clear that many of
the problems and much of the misery are byproducts of banning them.

The global commission is a valiant effort, but it is noticeable that
signatories include 11 former presidents, politicians and diplomats,
but just one in office - the Greek Prime Minister, who presumably
needs any extra revenue he can find. This is the fundamental problem:
serving politicians lack the bottle to take the obvious remedial actions.

As the report rightly states: "Political leaders and public figures
should have the courage to articulate publicly what many acknowledge
privately: that the evidence overwhelmingly demonstrates repressive
strategies will not solve the drug problem and the war on drugs cannot
be won."

This failure of nerve is particularly acute in Britain. One Cabinet
minister who has admitted smoking cannabis in his youth said
politicians were scared to act, despite knowing they should, since
they would be slaughtered by rivals and the media for every
drug-related death following liberalisation.

"You may think it is absurd regulation and it may cost more lives, but
deregulation is impossible in our political climate."

Sadly, he is right.

Politicians say they fear drug use will rise if prohibition is lifted.
Evidence from abroad shows they are wrong. Look at Scandinavia, where
the tough Swedes and more liberal Norwegians have similar addiction
rates.

Or Switzerland, where heroin demand and crime fell sharply following
new policies based on public health rather than legality. Or Portugal,
where heroin use fell by half after decriminalisation.

So here is a suggestion for the three main party leaders in Britain,
who are all young enough to know better: why not hoist the white flag
and work out a unified way to end a struggle that does so much more
harm than good?

The alternative is to carry on fighting like generals in World War I,
ignoring the deaths, the devastation and the wastelands created around
the world in a battle than can never be won.

UN GOAL, SET IN 1998

* To eliminate or significantly reduce use of opium, cannabis and
cocaine in 10 years.

* Outcome 2008: Global opiate use up by more than 30 per cent, big
rises also for cocaine and cannabis.

* Status: Not achieved.