STATES RIGHT ON DRUG REFORMS

While the federal government in recent years has approached illicit
drug policy along the lines of the classic definition of a fanatic -
if it isn't working, redouble your efforts - there has been a quiet
rethinking of drug policy at the state level, beginning with the
decision by California voters in 1996 to approve the medical use of
marijuana. But it has been difficult to tell how widespread this
phenomenon is. A new report (available at www.drugpolicy.org) from the
Drug Policy Alliance, an advocate of a harm-reduction rather than
prohibitive approach to potentially dangerous drugs, goes a long way
toward demonstrating that a willingness to enact drug policy reforms
is more than a passing fancy. Almost every state in the nation has
passed some kind of reform since 1996, and 17 states, including
California, have passed three or more reform measures.

Specifically, 46 states passed more than 150 new laws that could be
classified as harm-reduction reforms between 1996 and 2002 - and more
reforms have been passed in 2003. These reforms have been proposed by
Republicans, Democrats, Greens and Libertarians, and approved by
citizen or legislative majorities. Can it be that politicians no
longer fear that even discussing drug policy will get them labeled
"soft on crime" and defeated in the next election?

Among the reforms passed have been medical marijuana laws, reduction
of drug offense sentences, measures to increase legal access to
sterile syringes, restoring the right to vote to some with a felony
conviction, replacing incarceration with treatment and curtailing the
abuse of asset-forfeiture laws.

The most interesting story we heard came from Don Murphy, a four-term
former state legislator from Maryland. A conservative Republican from
a Baltimore suburb, he was persuaded by a constituent from another
district - a Green Beret with cancer - to introduce a medical
marijuana bill in 2000.

In 2000 his bill had eight co-sponsors (four Republicans and four
Democrats) and did not pass. In 2001 it got 28 co-sponsors and didn't
pass. In 2002, "an election year in which everybody said it would be
political poison to discuss this issue," according to Murphy, it got
54 co-sponsors and failed by one vote. In the election that November,
several key opponents of the bill were defeated by opponents who
supported it and made an issue of it. This year it passed and the
Republican governor has signed it.

In three years, then, medical marijuana went from an issue most
politicians were afraid to discuss to one they were afraid to oppose
for fear of being defeated at the polls.

So the news from the states is encouraging. Now if only the feds would
get the message that voters are tired of drug policies that not only
don't stop drugs but do more harm than good.