DEAL A BLOW TO THE DRUG WAR BY LEGALIZING MARIJUANA

The Nov. 21 Americas column by Mary Anastasia O'Grady, "A Path to
Victory in the Drug War," is a shot of light in an otherwise gloomy
overlay of news and foretold events. Ms. O'Grady reports on the
efforts by former Brazilian President Fernando Henrique Cardoso to
refocus the drug war away from eradication, which he once supported,
to a smart campaign that would decriminalize marijuana and undermine a
key entry point for criminal drug trafficking.

The experience of Colombia, where I worked as a foreign service
officer in the early 1990s, is telling. Together, Colombia and the
U.S. won many battles, but ultimately succeeded only in pushing
drug-trafficking into Mexico and Central America. Portugal, which
decriminalized marijuana while keeping up the legal and police
pressure against drug commerce, has shown a more effective way to
fight organized crime that can free up resources for treatment and
education.

If the U.S. really wants to end the drug scourge, we have to face this
issue squarely, without taboos and without the absurd ideological
divisions now crippling Washington. Why not tax marijuana like
cigarettes? Why not learn from countries that have reduced public
expenditures for incarcerations that do nothing but increase the
criminal labor pool? Kudos to Fernando Cardoso for taking up this cause.

Charlotte Roe

Longmont, Colo.