Pubdate: Tue, 14 Nov 2000 Source: San Diego Union Tribune (CA) Copyright: 2000 Union-Tribune Publishing Co. Section: Lifestyle Page: E-1 Contact: PO Box 120191, San Diego, CA, 92112-0191 Fax: (619) 293-1440 Website: http://www.uniontrib.com/ Forum: http://www.uniontrib.com/cgi-bin/WebX Author: Mark Sauer; Staff Writer Cited: Lindesmith Center-Drug Policy Foundation: http://www.drugpolicy.org/ Bookmarks: George Soros http://www.mapinc.org/soros.htm Governor Gary Johnson http://www.mapinc.org/johnson.htm DRUG-LAW REFORM CAMPAIGN FLEXES ITS MUSCLES George Soros, the Czech-American billionaire and international financier, has spent about $30 million promoting drug-law reform the past six years. Ethan Nadelmann, a rabbi's son, former Princeton professor and Soros' top lieutenant, is an eloquent campaigner who insists the war on drugs is an utter failure with dire social consequences. Cheech and Chong they are not. While bong-toting hippies, tie-dyed activists and dread-locked Rastas were no match for the law-and-order establishment, Soros and Nadelmann and their growing army of social and political scientists are proving a formidable challenge to the status quo. But while the battle over drug-law reform in America may be engaged, it is far from over. Congress is against them and so is the White House, no matter who occupies it. They are also vilified -- with a few notable exceptions -- by governors and state legislators, prosecutors and cops and most opinion-makers, including newspaper editorial writers. Faced with such staunch official resistance, the anti-war protesters have taken their fight directly to the people in a shrewd campaign that seems to grow stronger with each passing election. The people are listening, even if the politicians are not. Voters in many states seem to agree with the protesters that America's war on drugs, first declared by Richard Nixon in 1972, is causing more harm than drugs themselves. The facts Nadelmann cites are sobering: In 1980, when Ronald "Just Say No" Reagan won the presidency, the federal drug-war budget was $1 billion and about 50,000 Americans were behind bars for drug offenses. Under Bill Clinton, Washington spent $18 billion this year on the drug war, 400,000 people are jailed for non-violent drug offenses and drugs are still readily available. Time for a change? The Soros-backed, Nadelmann-led Lindesmith Center-Drug Policy Foundation has steadfastly placed 19 measures on state ballots since the mid-'90s. The proposals sought to legalize marijuana for medical use, divert drug offenders from jail into treatment, and prevent police from seizing property of suspected dealers. The record so far has been remarkable: 17 victories, including five out of six in the election just concluded. The biggest prize this year was Proposition 36 in California. It will trigger a sea change in social policy, shifting 20,000 or more drug offenders from prison to treatment centers annually, saving taxpayers as much as $200 million. The initiative passed with 61 percent of the vote. Drug-law reformers also won with measures allowing the medical use of marijuana in Nevada and Colorado and with laws restoring due-process protection for property owners accused of drug crimes in Oregon and Utah. The lone loss came in Massachusetts, where a proposal to divert certain low-level drug dealers to treatment instead of jail failed. "The public is turning against the drug war. Time and again voters have been willing to endorse sensible alternatives to the status quo by large margins," said Nadelmann, who lives in New York, where his organization has offices, as well as offices in San Francisco. "A vote on the drug war as a whole? That's premature. Our strategy is to change the nation's drug policies from one driven by fear, ignorance, prejudice and profit to one governed by common sense, science and concerns for public health and human rights." 'Important Strides' At the beginning of this election year, the anti-war movement held little hope that the drug war would become part of the national debate. Gary Johnson, New Mexico's lame-duck Republican governor, gained some attention with speeches urging legalization and an end to the drug war. Tom Campbell, the Republican candidate doomed in his bid to unseat Sen. Diane Feinstein in California, made drug-law reform a main plank in his platform. And in the closing weeks of the presidential campaign, Ralph Nader of the Green Party decried the "corporate prison industry that wants ever more customers, grossly discriminates against minorities and is greatly distorted by the extremely expensive and failed war on drugs." Few others, though, were challenging the drug war. Still, Nadelmann sees progress. "It's almost a relief that the two major presidential candidates didn't talk about drugs because in the past all they've done is demagogue this topic," he said. Nadelmann also found the "shadow conventions" outside the GOP and Democratic gatherings in Philadelphia and Los Angeles respectively as very effective in rallying support for drug-law reform. And he noted that African-American leaders like Jesse Jackson and congressional members John Conyers of Detroit, Charles Rangel of Harlem and Maxine Waters of Los Angeles "are speaking out against the consequences of the drug war as never before." "Obviously, we have a long way to go. But I think we made some important strides this year," said Nadelmann. Here To Stay What's next for the drug-reform movement? Bill Zimmerman of Santa Monica, Nadelmann's colleague who spearheaded California's successful campaign for Prop. 36, said implementation of that law plus efforts to sort out the ongoing medical-marijuana legal tangle here and in other states are immediate priorities. The Soros-backed reformers are quick to note, however, that they had nothing to do with the failed effort in Alaska this year to legalize marijuana. (They did, however, applaud a local ordinance that passed overwhelmingly in California's Mendocino County that decriminalizes personal use there.) "We support initiatives that win and will continue to do so," said Zimmerman. "It makes no sense to spend all this time, energy and money on a ballot measure with no chance of winning." Zimmerman and Nadelmann resist the "legalizer" label opponents have tried to pin on them. Rather, their message is that drugs are here to stay in our society and the criminal-justice approach to the drug problem is doomed. Reducing addiction and abuse through treatment and education is the only sensible solution, they contend. The country may be ready for that, may even be ready for decriminalization -- but not outright legalization. "At this point, legalization of recreational drug use would not be approved by voters in any state," said Zimmerman, "so we're not going to waste time with it. "My hope is that (Soros), who does not qualify as a legalizer, would still be willing to financially support initiatives to end marijuana prohibition in certain states when we feel the public there is ready for it." The record suggests that if that moment comes, Nadelmann and Zimmerman and their growing movement of drug-law reformers will seize it. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake