NIXON TAPES POT SHOCKER

WASHINGTON -- The Watergate tapes from the Nixon White House are indeed the
gift that keeps on giving.

The latest release of these secret recordings covers that period in 1971
when President Richard M. Nixon was preparing to crank up the war on
marijuana. In his conversations with Chief of Staff Bob Haldeman and
others, Nixon reveals, in his down-home, earthy style, that the whole thing
was a fraud.

The president was in a box at this particular moment because a special drug
commission that he had appointed was spinning out of control. "The National
Commission on Marijuana and Drug Abuse" was a creation of Congress, but
Nixon had put his stamp on it by appointing a host of hard-liners. The
headman was a former prosecutor, Gov. Ray Shafer of Pennsylvania, whose
tough law-and-order reputation meshed with Nixon's vision.

Now there was word on the street that the so-called "Shafer Commission" was
considering the legalization of marijuana.

The president had clearly expected Gov. Shafer to return with a damning
indictment of the evil weed because he had already made up his mind to use
the drug issue as a political ax in the upcoming election.

Unfortunately several of the commissioners were not in on the plan and they
took the assignment seriously. They commissioned more than 50 scientific
studies, surveyed judges, probation officers, clinicians, and health
experts, and they personally went all over the globe for a first-hand look
at the situation. It was one of the most comprehensive examinations of
marijuana in history.

One can imagine Nixon's surprise when rumors began circulating in early '71
that the "L-word" was on the table. He responded curtly at his next press
conference: "Even if the Commission does recommend that it be legalized, I
will not follow that recommendation."

This bold admission created a firestorm among the commissioners and several
of them threatened to quit -- or worse, to produce a dissenting minority
report. Shafer, who was also angling for an appointment to the federal
bench, was caught in the middle. He promised the insurrectionists he would
meet with the President and try to straighten things out.

He was finally able to get an appointment in early September but it is
clear that he knew this meeting was window dressing. Shafer told staffer
Egil Krogh, Jr., "I know what the game is."

All Shafer wanted was a picture of himself with the President that he could
take back to the Commission. "I'll tell them that we met, the President
listened, was appreciative..."

Nixon let him have the picture but he was otherwise unrelenting. While
admitting that there were significant differences between marijuana and
other drugs, he wanted Shafer to cover up that fact. "I think there's a
need to come out with a report that is totally oblivious to some obvious
differences between marijuana and other drugs."

Throughout 1971 Nixon kept up the drumbeat. "I want a Goddamn strong
statement on marijuana," he told his high-level White House lieutenant Bob
Haldeman, "I mean one that just tears the ass out of them." Somehow, it's
not surprising to hear the President say, "You know, it's a funny thing,
every one of the bastards that are out for legalizing marijuana is Jewish."

On March 21, 1972, the president told Haldeman, "We need -- and I use the
word -- 'all out war.'" The next day the Shafer Commission returned its
report on marijuana and to the President's chagrin, not only did they
refuse to declare war on marijuana, they recommended decriminalization.

Nixon declared his war on drugs anyway. Needless to say, Gov. Shafer did
not get his judicial appointment and his voluminous report was swept under
the rug.

For those who are curious about what this country might be like today if
Richard Nixon had simply followed the advice of his own experts, we happen
to have a comparative yardstick.

At the same moment that the Shafer Commission was hearing evidence in the
United States, a Dutch commission was doing the same thing in The
Netherlands and they came to the same conclusion. Unlike the Americans,
they paid attention to their experts and decriminalized marijuana.

Today, per captia use of marijuana among teenagers in The Netherlands is
half that of those in the United States. Meanwhile the people of this
country were treated to a 30-year jihad that so far has resulted in the
arrest of nearly 15 million citizens.