TURNING AWAY FROM THE CORNER

"We believe we have turned a corner, particularly with the coca crop, in
Colombia." - Paul E. Simons, the U.S. State Department's top
counternarcotics official, quoted by the Associated Press June 3, 2003 -
see http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03/n831/a13.html

For at least 30 years, the United States has repeatedly turned corners in
the drug war.

Back in 1973, it was President Richard Nixon who metaphorically strolled
down the street of drug policy before veering off at an intersection. "We
have turned a corner on drug addiction," said Nixon.

With all the 90-degree directional shifts announced since then, the
prohibitionists can't help but be a bit disoriented. Grab a compass if you
want to keep your own bearings.

In 1999, it was former drug czar Barry McCaffrey, proclaiming that
adolescent drug use "has just turned the corner."

Sounding even more sure that same year was President Bill Clinton's Health
Secretary, Donna Shalala: "Last year, I optimistically told you that in the
fight against illicit drug use, we may have finally turned the
corner. Well this year's survey definitely shows that we've not only
turned the corner, we're heading for home plate." The umpire, it seems, did
not rule favorably.

The previous President Bush said in 1990: "I can tell you that our drug
czar had a good report to the Nation the other day, showing that we've
turned the corner, that we're making progress in our war against drugs."
The drug czar at that time, William Bennett, actually overshot the drug
corner by a few steps and turned at a casino entrance instead - strictly to
savor the second-hand tobacco smoke.

These are but a few of the corners turned in the drug war through the
years. Simply do a Google search on "drug" and "turned the corner" to find
drug warriors famous and unknown rapturously describing that quick pivoting
sidestep leading to a drug-free utopia.

But the promised land remains distant.

When I read corner quotes, I envision uptight, well-groomed narc versions
of R. Crumb's "Keep on Truckin'" cartoon character (
http://www.12move.de/home/crumb/char_truckin.htm ), always stretching one
optimistic foot toward the future, even if it's locked in place, never
really going anywhere.

But worse than standing still, or simply walking around the block and
returning to the same place, each new corner of the drug war takes society
into increasingly hazardous realms.

At least that's how I interpret it.

The appeal of the corner metaphor lies in its vagueness. It doesn't really
mean anything. "Turned a corner" implies significant but non-specific
progress towards a goal even though the goal remains unattainable.

The phrase might be appropriate in some situations, but to repeat the same
lame line over 30 years is an insult to the public, especially with the
number of new drug crises appearing throughout those three decades. The
overuse of "turned a corner" demonstrates the shallow historical knowledge
of most anti-drug professionals.

Or perhaps the prohibitionists are eager to turn new corners because they
don't want to face the disastrous truth about the drug war as it stands
right in front of them. If they could resist the urge to turn and instead
face the ugliness head on, they might realize it's time to follow a
straight path away from the drug war.

Even one more turn around one more corner represents nothing but another
dangerous detour.