Pubdate: Thu, 11 Jan 2001 Source: Chicago Sun-Times (IL) Copyright: 2001 The Sun-Times Co. Contact: 401 N. Wabash, Chicago IL 60611 Feedback: http://www.suntimes.com/geninfo/feedback.html Website: http://www.suntimes.com/ Author: Rich Silverman Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01/n036/a05.html Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/traffic.htm (Traffic) ONE TOKE OVER THE LINE Dan Gardner's report is perhaps one of the most important articles to grace the front page of a major metropolitan newspaper in years. Hopefully, this article, the release of the Hollywood movie "Traffic" and the outcry of such sober voices as Gov. Gary Johnson of New Mexico will herald an age in American politics when this topic can be discussed openly, free of the superficial stigma that has been attached for too long. No other problem facing the nation today is as important as the so-called war on drugs. No other problem is as vilified as the so-called war on drugs. Clearly, our nation's drug policies are an enormous, and enormously expensive, failure. It's money thrown into a black hole, for no positive results have ever come from it. However, Gardner fails to address the other, more human costs of this American folly. The drug war has been the direct cause of the whittling away of many civil liberties. Today, a suspected drug dealer--even a suspected petty user--is considered guilty until proven innocent. Additionally, the drug war tends to attack minorities far out of proportion to their use of a particular drug. It's time for America to wake up to the futility of its drug program. Rich Silverman, Near North Side - --- MAP posted-by: Jo-D