WAR ON POT BURNS TIME, TAX DOLLARS

Michael Badnarik for president ... that is if I were a one-issue voter and
that one issue happened to be legalizing marijuana. The Libertarian
candidate wants to end the misguided, though well-meaning, drug war against
potheads. So do I.

The U.S. arrested nearly 700,000 people for violating marijuana laws in
2002, incarcerating 15 percent to 20 percent of them at great cost to
taxpayers. Still, neither John Kerry nor George W. Bush has endorsed
legalizing marijuana or leaving the issue up to the states.

The marijuana debate hasn't been a player in this election, which is
understandable. War, the economy, terror and health care trump the drug
debate, as they should. And in fact, the marijuana question hasn't even
been raised, so far as I have found, since the Democratic primary
candidates were at the 2003 "Rock the Vote" debate. That's where Kerry,
John Edwards and Howard Dean all admitted to having used marijuana in the
past. Dennis Kucinich and Al Sharpton said they had not, and Joe Lieberman
actually apologized for his superior status in having abstained from the
drug, telling the audience, "I have a reputation for giving unpopular
answers. I never used marijuana. Sorry!" Unlike past election years,
candidates' marijuana revelations went largely ignored.

But legalizing marijuana is something that should be on Americans' radar
screens after the election. Urging Bush or Kerry to change the nation's
drug policy toward marijuana would be a worthy effort. As the Badnarik Web
site says, "The Drug War does not curb demand, it barely reduces supply,
however it makes America much more dangerous and much less free."

FBI Uniform Crime Reports further detail the folly of the war against pot.
They show that since 1996, the number of arrests involving marijuana
exceeded that for other types of drugs. And did you know that four-fifths
of all drug-law violations are for possession, not the selling or
manufacturing, of drugs? Billions of dollars have been spent fighting
marijuana. Law enforcers should be diverted to more important tasks, such
as counterterrorism efforts.

Legalize but Don't Legitimize

Far too much trouble and expense is going to fight a drug that is less
harmful than alcohol or cigarettes, both of which are legal. Are we on drugs?

Don't get me wrong. Marijuana is not something to encourage. It should
never be legal for minors. And just like alcohol and tobacco, marijuana can
hurt a person's health, employment and relationships. Marijuana is also the
second most frequently found substance in drivers of fatal automobile
wrecks (after alcohol). But criminalizing marijuana use has taxpayers
picking up an extraordinary bill and is about as ridiculous as mandating
that hikers wear helmets. We cannot regulate every human behavior. And
since there is no verified case of anyone ever overdosing on marijuana, we
ought to let this behavior be.

More Fun Facts on Marijuana Follow:

It is the most commonly used illicit drug, according to White House's
Office of National Drug Control Policy. And our politicians are hardly
alone in their past drug use: The 2002 National Survey on Drug Use and
Health found that an estimated 40.4 percent (94.9 million) of Americans age
12 or older had used marijuana or hashish in their life.

Could we do much worse by legalizing the substance?

I doubt it. The experience of other countries suggests we'd be OK. The
likely outcome of decriminalization of marijuana use among adults would be
fewer people going to jail on drug-related offenses, not more drug abuse.

I am willing to concede that more people would try marijuana if the
substance were legal. However, the drug doesn't stick with most Americans.
The NSDUH shows that only 11 percent of people who have tried marijuana
actually used it in the past year, and just 6.2 percent report using it in
the past month, with very few people using it on a daily basis.

Regular marijuana use is a dumb choice. People will get that whether the
drug is illegal and we arrest or jail them for it or not. Let's save some money.