Pubdate: Wed, 20 May 2009
Source: Daily Camera (Boulder, CO)
Copyright: 2009 The Daily Camera.
Contact:  http://www.dailycamera.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/103
Author: Erika Stutzman

COMPASSION IN THE WAR WE CAN'T WIN

New Direction In War On Drugs Is Welcome

With all that's going on in the world and with the economy, a big 
shift in the national dialogue on illegal drugs has gone relatively 
unnoticed. But at the federal level, the change in our decades-long, 
totally unwinnable "War on Drugs" is a welcome shift, both in tone 
and practice.

On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected appeals from two 
California counties that object to that state's medical marijuana 
law. The counties had sought to defeat the state's 13-year-old law 
that allows people suffering from various illnesses a license to 
possess and use marijuana, saying the authorization is at odds with 
the federal government's "zero tolerance" drug policy.

In a shift from previous top prosecutors, Attorney General Eric H. 
Holder recently said the federal government will not be devoting a 
lot of effort prosecuting low-level marijuana cases. And now, the 
Supreme Court's rejection bolsters the state laws -- although it 
should be noted that officially, the sale or use of marijuana is 
still considered illegal by the U.S. government.

The attorney general's statement and the Supreme Court's action are 
good news for patients who live in states with compassionate 
marijuana laws. Like California, Colorado recognizes the relief that 
marijuana can bring to some patients with HIV/AIDS, cancer, glaucoma 
and the severe pain and nausea that comes from those and other ailments.

Colorado's medical marijuana law was passed by the voters in 2000. 
Almost 7,400 people have applied to be registered as medical 
marijuana patients. Some registrations have expired, some patients 
have died, 35 applications were rejected and 18 cards have been 
revoked. Today, there are about 5,920 medical marijuana users here, 
including 560 in Boulder, 48 in Broomfield and 255 in nearby Weld.

Severe pain accounts for about 88 percent of the users -- though some 
patients register for multiple ailments, such as severe pain and 
cancer. Whether or not pot should be legalized and regulated 
full-stop is a question for another time: The high court's rejection 
of the California case allows states like our own to continue 
compassionate care.

Elsewhere in the war:

Gil Kerlikowske, the newly named head of the White House Office of 
National Drug Control Policy, said that the country will shift toward 
an emphasis on treatment over incarceration to try and reduce drug use.

"Regardless of how you try to explain to people it's a 'war on drugs' 
or a 'war on a product,' people see a war as a war on them. We're not 
at war with people in this country," Kerlikowske said in his first 
interview last week.

This is a most welcome shift: We need to start being honest about the 
costs of this war. Our prisons are filled with people busted for even 
low-level drug use. "Zero tolerance" policies filter down to even the 
smallest of municipalities: That where a school district will strip 
search a very young girl, because she was suspected of having Ibuprofen.

Meanwhile, a real, actual, bloody and terroristic war rages right 
over our own border because of our laws and our seemingly insatiable 
appetite for illegal drugs.

With the words of our new Attorney General, our new drug czar and the 
actions of our Supreme Court, we are optimistic about this shift in 
"war" strategy.

- -- Erika Stutzman, for the Camera editorial board 
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom