WAR ON DRUGS RUNS PARALLEL TO IRAQ, VIETNAM WARS

President Nixon's declaration that drug abuse is "public enemy number
one in the United States" in 1971 launched a "war on drugs" that has
raged since the war in Vietnam.

Like the war in Vietnam then and in Iraq today, this war has proven
to be much more complex than a simple "red versus blue" campaign. The
soldiers are sworn law enforcement officers and organized crime
members playing a dangerous game of "cops and robbers." The victims
are varied, some helpless, destitute, or hardened criminals
themselves, but all are civilians.

Like Iraq, there is another faction who would like to do away with
the whole affair - drug policy "insurgents."

Leading the insurgency are advocacy groups such as the Drug Policy
Alliance, the Marijuana Policy Project and the National Organization
for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, who challenge the Federal
Government on judicial, legislative and executive fronts. This past
year has beared mixed results for advocates, in part because of
uncooperative executive and judicial branches at the federal and
state levels but also at the advocacy level.

Since President Nixon ignored the findings of his own commission
urging federal decriminalization of marijuana in 1971, twelve states
have enacted medical marijuana laws, and many more localities have
put the enforcement of marijuana prohibition as the lowest law
enforcement priority. In April, Gov. Bill Richardson made medical
marijuana into New Mexico law. Last week, Rhode Island's legislature
rejected Gov. Donald Carcieri's veto of MPP's medical marijuana bill,
solidifying the number of states in the union with medical marijuana
laws. New York is waiting on its state senate and governor to take
final action on a bill that passed the assembly by a 93-52 vote.

The list of losses are equally numerous. In 2005, the U.S. Supreme
Court continued its history of stretching the "interstate commerce"
clause of the constitution.

Gonzales v. Raich allowed the federal government to further curtail
state rights by rationalizing since medical marijuana could be
transported and sold across state lines.

Despite California's medical marijuana law prohibiting it, the
Federal government can shut down state sanctioned "cannabis clubs."
This allows state medical marijuana patients and growers to be
prosecuted under federal law.

Connecticut Gov. Jodi Rell vetoed a MPP sponsored bill last week,
citing conflicts with federal law and "family values" of voters. On
Monday, the Supreme Court set a dangerous precedent for further
constraining student speech by virtue of its content in its "Bong
Hits 4 Jesus" case ruling.

The judiciary's actions have cleared the way for executive agencies
such as the Drug Enforcement Agency and local law enforcement
departments to exercise excessive police powers and undue influence
in public policy. Drug law enforcement has taken on a troubling
para-military flare with officers in battle dress uniforms with guns
drawn executing "no-knock" search warrants.

A hard nosed approach on crime may never draw the ire of the public,
but a botched raid on and death of 92-year-old Kathryn Johnston
should. Atlanta police suspected her apartment was being used to sell
crack cocaine, obtained a warrant and plain clothes officers raided
the house. Johnston, anticipating the raid as a home invasion, opened
fire on the officers. They justifiably returned fire, but then went
on to plant all the drugs that were found that day, whicn included
three bags of marijuana. Officers J.R. Smith and Gregg Junnier pled
guilty to a variety of charges relating to the incident in federal
court. Like the war in Iraq, our "boots on the ground" have failed to
speak the local language and only inflame violence not among Shiites
or Shia, but Bloods, Crips and Banditos.

Not content to engage in mere enforcement, the DEA orchestrates and
U.S. tax payers fund a variety of public relations campaigns
demonizing drugs and drug users, as well as attempting to legitimize
and further their bureaucratic interests. According to the DEA Web
site, marijuana and its legalization advocates are endangering the
country by blurring the lines between "fact and fiction." On its
face, these Web sites are contrived and sometimes outright false,
which is a fact that will not escape the critical eye.

Critiquing current drug policy and scrutinizing agencies such as the
DEA is an important task for government reform. The unwise laws and
mechanisms that enforce them conveniently demonstrate the heights of
government corruption, bureaucratic inefficiency, deliberate
misinformation, and hypocrisy. President Bush's handling of the war
in Iraq and Afghanistan has been criticized since its inception and
exposed some darker elements within his administration. Similarly,
the war on drugs accomplishes the same things, regardless of
partisanship of an administration in peace time. Although the war in
Iraq rages on, popular discontent is being voiced and put at the
forefront in presidential debates now and in those to come. Marijuana
advocates should further prod latent public discontent and foster new
energy towards an issue not unlike the war in Iraq.

Call it a "decapitation attack" because it is precisely what the war
on drugs needs to bring it to a peaceful and ultimately beneficial
conclusion that America deserves. Until federal prohibition is dealt
with, state level campaigns will be subject to asymmetrical warfare
like true insurgents, and their detractors can continue to propagate
misinformation.

Citizens from all over the political spectrum can recognize the
futility of the war on drugs and disharmony of their ideological
beliefs and the government's conduct. Marijuana advocates need to
focus on taking public discontent to its numerical and national
heights. Dismantling the war on drugs will not only be a wise public
policy course but also bring accountability back to an out of control
federal government.