NO LAUGHING MATTER

Recently, the Boston Phoenix sent three writers to cover the New England
governors' drug summit at Faneuil Hall, organized by the White House Office
of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP). Their stories were collectively
headlined, Drugs: Why Can't Politicians Face Facts?

I have participated in numerous such events. From 1979 to 1989, I was
counsel to the US House of Representatives Committee on the Judiciary. In
1988, I helped write the legislation creating the ONDCP. I have set up or
attended at least 100 congressional anti-drug hearings or events over the
years. Unfortunately, your front-page headline offers a generally
well-founded lament. And the causes of our politicians' disconnect from the
reality of drug use and the consequences of drug policy must be identified
if we are to get beyond the policy failures in which we are mired.

First, it does not seem that those politicians who do face facts are made
to suffer for it - at least by their constituencies. US Representative
Barney Frank (D-MA), for example, is well known for having sponsored
medical-marijuana legislation, and has in no way been punished by his
constituents. Similarly, here in Maryland, State Delegate Don Murphy (R),
representing a conservative district, sponsored our state medical-marijuana
bill, but never faced electoral jeopardy. In fact, a Republican state
senator here, Tim Ferguson, was targeted and defeated in the Republican
primary for casting the decisive vote against medical marijuana in committee.

But Murphy's experience illustrates a very important factor. Once Murphy
sponsored the bill, he became the butt of jokes among his legislative
colleagues: " What's that smell? " " Can you get me something? " A
politician who faces facts and questions current drug policy risks becoming
the object of constant ridicule. The news media - with a few notable
exceptions - are equally to blame. Pun-filled headlines, sly references to
drug use, and sloppy reporting are the rule when the subject is illegal
drugs. In a typical story about the introduction of a medical-marijuana
bill, the lead and succeeding paragraphs make jokes and cute observations
about the clothing, hairstyles, audience, music, etc. at a
pro-medical-marijuana event. These cheap attempts denigrate the seriousness
of the legislation.

Ultimately, politicians' unwillingness to face the facts about illegal
drugs stems from fear of losing legitimacy, not fear of electoral defeat or
challenge. Driving this fear is the seemingly irresistible compulsion of
the nation's editors and reporters to turn to journalistic cliches about
pot when writing about drug-policy reform.

If the nation thinks the problems of drug abuse are serious, then we must
stop sacrificing serious discussion of the alternatives for the cheap
laughs of old and not-very-funny pot jokes.