ABSENT

Conspicuously absent from your otherwise excellent Jan. 5 editorial on
Chief Justice William Rehnquist's call for judicial sentencing discretion
was the role of the drug war. The land of the free now has the highest
incarceration rate in the world, in large part due to the war on some
drugs. It's not possible to wage a moralistic war against consensual vices
unless privacy is eliminated, along with the Constitution. The steady rise
in warrantless police searches, drug-sniffing dogs in schools and random
drug testing have led to a loss of civil liberties in America, while
failing miserably at preventing drug use.

Based on findings that criminal records are inappropriate as health
interventions and ineffective as deterrents, a majority of European Union
countries have decriminalized marijuana. Despite marijuana prohibition and
perhaps because of forbidden fruit appeal, lifetime use of marijuana is
higher in the United States than any European country.

The failed drug war threatens the integrity of a country founded on the
concept of limited government. At an average cost of $25,071 per inmate
annually, maintaining the world's largest prison system can hardly be
considered fiscally conservative. America can either be a free country or a
"drug-free" country, but not both.

Robert Sharpe, MPA

Policy Analyst

Common Sense for Drug Policy

Washington, DC