Pubdate: Wed, 18 Feb 2009 Source: Daily Evergreen, The (Washington State U, WA Edu) Copyright: 2009 WSU Student Publications Board Contact: http://www.dailyevergreen.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2843 Author: Gavin Mathis Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?420 (Cannabis - Popular) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/decrim.htm (Decrim/Legalization) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/people/michael+phelps THE WAR ON PHELPS: A LEGAL DISTRACTION As Somewhat Shamed Swimmer Continues To Make Splashes, The War On Drugs Continues Unsuccessfully I'm not sure if USA Swimming's impotent three-month suspension of Michael Phelps is worse than the media's hysteria over 'the bong incident,' but one thing is certain: Phelps is the latest scapegoat in the war on drugs. Drug-related issues are a perennial scare tactic because they stir voter emotions and maintain the press's ratings. The outrage triggered by the infamous bong photo proves America's faux war on drugs still exists. First of all, I want to know who would let Phelps take a hit off their bong. Phelps possesses the lung capacity of 10 opera singers. I wouldn't let him anywhere near my hypothetical stash - he could inhale all of it in one breath. The only thing America learned from this debacle was why the Olympic swimmer eats 12,000 calories per day - he has the munchies. If USA Swimming wants Phelps to stop smoking weed, they shouldn't provide him with more free time. Additionally, if Phelps toked during the Olympics, he shouldn't be forced to forfeit his eight gold metals. Instead we should give him a ninth metal. Unless a bag of Funyuns is strategically placed at the end of a pool, marijuana is not a performance-enhancing drug. Every year, prison populations grow exponentially but drugs remain on the streets and the press crucifies another semi-celebrity. Draconian penalties for first-time drug offenders, such as the Rockefeller Laws, are the result of over-hyped media coverage and politicians attempting to be tough on crime. Flooding the prison system with first-time offenders devours state and federal funds and does nothing to rid the nation of illegal drugs. Focusing on the hazards of illegal drugs diverts attention from the equally dangerous legal drugs (alcohol, nicotine, anti-depressants), which are well integrated into the culture and the economy and are represented by powerful special interests groups in Washington. If stoners turned off the Cartoon Network long enough to form a political action committee, marijuana would be legal in a heartbeat. From Tijuana to Baltimore, urban communities on both sides of the Rio Grande have been plunged into a brutal war zone. According to the Wall Street Journal, warring drug cartels killed close to 6,000 people in 2008. Even as the body count rises, American presidents continue the same failed policies by declaring war on drugs. Most drug-related crime is tied to the high cost of obtaining drugs and to the criminal black market, which is created by the government's prohibition of narcotics. The sole accomplishment of the war on drugs is the expansion of federal authority. Sweeping reductions in civil rights, such as the right to privacy and due process, are deemed acceptable if they help win the war on drugs. For example, decisions handed down by the Supreme Court sanctioned the use of anonymous informants (Illinois v. Gates, 1983) and increased the federal government's ability to regulate the use of medicinal marijuana (Gonzales v. Raich, 2005). Typical media coverage involving drug-related crime fails to mention how the illegality of drug commodities increases the price of the substance, thus promoting the cartel aspect of the trade. The public would possess a better understanding of drug abuse and would be more critical of drug-enforcement laws if the media discussed how the illegality of narcotics heightened violence in drug-infested neighborhoods. Declaring war on drugs turns friends and family members into the enemy, militarizes U.S. drug policy and reroutes funds away from tangible solutions. Demanding social justice for those hit hardest - the impoverished and those living in the other America - is not enough to bridge the chasm created by the war on drugs. As long as Phelps is the excuse for waging an unwinnable war, inner-city neighborhoods will decay to the point of inhabitability. - --- MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin