LEGALIZE IT?

According to Sanho Tree, director of the Drug Policy Project at the
Institute for Policy Studies in Washington, D.C., the American war on drugs
is not only failing, it's actually perpetuating drug trafficking,
profiteering and drug use all over the world.

In a speech titled "Addicted to Failure: Drug War Politics and Prospects
for Social Change," Tree spoke to a crowd of 300 in Macky Auditorium on
CU-Boulder's campus Wednesday as a part of the Conference of World Affairs
on why he sees need for an exhaustive change in America's drug policies.

"The more we fight this war, the cheaper the drugs become, the more
available they are and the higher the purity," he said. "One doesn't need
to resort to conspiracy theory to know why this war is failing."

Tree said that the United States' war on drugs - which costs nearly $20
billion annually at the federal level - only perpetuates the continuing
desirability and profitability of illegal drugs. He said he applies
Darwinian principles of "survival of the fittest" to show why the
distribution of drugs has not changed in the past 20 years, despite
increased law enforcement and funding in finding and catching drug sellers.

"When we escalate law enforcement, the kinds of people we tend to catch are
inefficient traffickers," he said. "The people we tend to miss are the most
efficient... we force them to evolve at a lightning rate."

Tree said he thought policies should be altered to decriminalize
non-violent drug crimes - policies which he said result in one quarter of
our nation's 2.2 million prisoners - and instead legalize some or all drugs
and instead use funding to help with fighting addictions.

Tree added that he thought limited legalized policies for personal use in
the Netherlands had been working very well.

"We have policies that turn weed into gold. An ounce of marijuana and an
ounce of gold run roughly the same price," he said. "[In the Netherlands]
they have much lower rates of drug use, including a lower marijuana use
rate among teenagers... they've made marijuana boring!"

Still, some in the audience questioned whether a true legalization could
even exist, particularly since there would still have to be age limits and
restrictions on some drugs that are far more dangerous than others.

Tree said it would be impossible to say where the results might lead unless
legalization was at least attempted. He added that some who have worked for
years fighting drugs in this country - including some fiscal conservatives
- - agree that as long as drugs are illegal and the profit margin is high,
the problem will only continue.

Forbes Cone, a former CU student, said he thought Tree's analysis on the
economic nature of the drug war was very balanced and reasonable.

"It wasn't like abolition or legalization... more about managing," he said.
"It was easy to listen to because he was even-tempered."

CU student Liz Arnold agreed that Tree's solutions seem plausible, adding
that she agrees that the U.S. needs to drastically change to the current
war on drugs.

"The way the war on drugs is promoted [right now] creates a lot of fear,"
she said.

There wasn't a lot of dissent or disagreement with Tree's viewpoint, but he
continued to drive his point home.

"Whether it's a coca farmer in Colombia, a poppy-seed farmer in Afghanistan
or a kid in a high-school bathroom dealing marijuana.... They won't
surrender. It will never happen," he said. "So by definition, the war on
drugs will never end... it's a quagmire."