Pubdate: Thu, 15 Jan 2004
Source: Birmingham Post-Herald (AL)
Copyright: 2004 Birmingham Post Co.
Contact:  http://www.postherald.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/46
Author: Robert Sharpe
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v04/n031/a02.html

ABSENT

Conspicuously absent from your otherwise excellent Jan. 5 editorial on 
Chief Justice William Rehnquist's call for judicial sentencing discretion 
was the role of the drug war. The land of the free now has the highest 
incarceration rate in the world, in large part due to the war on some 
drugs. It's not possible to wage a moralistic war against consensual vices 
unless privacy is eliminated, along with the Constitution. The steady rise 
in warrantless police searches, drug-sniffing dogs in schools and random 
drug testing have led to a loss of civil liberties in America, while 
failing miserably at preventing drug use.

Based on findings that criminal records are inappropriate as health 
interventions and ineffective as deterrents, a majority of European Union 
countries have decriminalized marijuana. Despite marijuana prohibition and 
perhaps because of forbidden fruit appeal, lifetime use of marijuana is 
higher in the United States than any European country.

The failed drug war threatens the integrity of a country founded on the 
concept of limited government. At an average cost of $25,071 per inmate 
annually, maintaining the world's largest prison system can hardly be 
considered fiscally conservative. America can either be a free country or a 
"drug-free" country, but not both.

Robert Sharpe, MPA

Policy Analyst

Common Sense for Drug Policy

Washington, DC