Pubdate: Wed, 22 Nov 2000
Source: San Diego Union Tribune (CA)
Copyright: 2000 Union-Tribune Publishing Co.
Contact:  PO Box 120191, San Diego, CA, 92112-0191
Fax: (619) 293-1440
Website: http://www.uniontrib.com/
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Author: Arianna Huffington

THE WAR ON DRUGS AND THE WILL OF THE PEOPLE

The "will of the people" is all the rage these days. If it were a movie, 
they'd be lining up the Oscars. If it were a stock, it would be soaring. If 
it were a toy, it would be this year's Furby. It's getting even better buzz 
than "the rule of law." "This is a time to honor the true will of the 
people," said Al Gore last week, after earlier claiming that all that 
mattered was "making sure that the will of the American people is expressed 
and accurately received."

I'm glad everyone is now singing the praises of the innate and infinite 
wisdom of the American voter. But while the people's choice for president 
may come down to a smudged postmark on a rejected absentee ballot, there's 
at least one issue on which the American people provided a crystal clear 
indication of what their will is: the war on drugs. They want a cease-fire.

Two weeks ago, voters in five states overwhelmingly passed drug policy 
reform initiatives, including Proposition 36 in California, which will 
shift the criminal justice system's focus from incarceration to treatment. 
The measure garnered more than 60 percent of the popular vote, 7 percent 
more than Al Gore received in the state, and 18 percent more than George W. 
Bush. Now that, ladies and gentlemen, is a mandate.

In fact, since 1996, 17 of the 19 drug policy reform initiatives have 
passed. But despite this rather unambiguous expression of the popular will, 
politicians have repeatedly failed to honor it. For example, when the 
people of California voted in 1996 to allow the medical use of marijuana, 
then-Gov. Pete Wilson called it "a mistake" that "effectively legalizes the 
sale of marijuana," while the federal government went to court to overturn 
the wishes of the electorate.

But perhaps this year, with the margins of victory growing enviably higher, 
politicians are beginning to see the writing -- smudges, dimpled, hanging 
and otherwise -- on the voting booth wall. When Proposition 36 passed 
despite being solidly opposed by the California political establishment, 
the response of Gov. Gray Davis, who had campaigned against it, was: "The 
people have spoken."

And thank God, because it's in Davis' state that their voices will have the 
greatest impact since a third of California's inmates are behind bars on 
drug charges. Under Proposition 36, up to 36,000 nonviolent drug offenders 
and parole violators are expected to be put into treatment programs 
instead. The initiative earmarks $120 million annually to fund these 
programs, as well as family counseling and job and literacy training.

With its shift from high-cost imprisonment to low-cost, high-common-sense 
treatment, Proposition 36 is estimated to save taxpayers more than $200 
million a year -- and an additional half a billion dollars by eliminating 
the need for new prisons. As UC Berkeley professor Ruth Wilson Gilmore 
pointed out, "California has spent more than $5 billion building and 
expanding more than 23 prisons in the past 20 years, while only one new 
university has been built from the ground up."

At the same time, voters in Utah and Oregon passed by enormous margins -- 
69 and 66 percent, respectively -- initiatives designed to make it harder 
for police to seize the property of suspected drug offenders. Just as 
significantly, all proceeds from forfeited assets will now be used to fund 
drug treatment or public education programs instead of to fill the coffers 
of law enforcement agencies. Both measures were backed by people from 
across the ideological spectrum concerned with property rights, civil 
rights and racial justice.

And in Nevada and Colorado, voters passed initiatives making marijuana 
legal for medical use -- joining Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, 
Maine, Oregon, Washington and the District of Columbia.

Meanwhile, post-election editorials in papers across the country reflected 
the public's radical rethinking of the drug war. Newsweek even devoted its 
election week cover story to "America's Prison Generation," about the 14 
million mostly black or Latino Americans who will spend part of their lives 
behind bars -- the huge increase being largely the result of drug war policies.

As for our two presidents-in-waiting, they have said remarkably little 
about the drug war -- other than that they plan to get tougher on it. But 
if either candidate enjoyed the support that drug reform did, he'd be 
packing boxes now. The resounding success of drug policy reform initiatives 
makes it clear that whoever ends up occupying the Oval Office had better 
change his tune if he intends to do more than pay lip service to honoring 
the will of the people.
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MAP posted-by: Jo-D