Pubdate: Thu, 29 Nov 2012
Source: Chico News & Review, The (CA)
Copyright: 2012 Chico Community Publishing, Inc.
Contact:  http://www.newsreview.com/chico/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/559
Author: Robert Speer

IS THE WAR ON DRUGS ENDING?

Two States Have Now Legalized Marijuana-Another Sure Sign That 
Attitudes Are Changing

Slowly but surely, America is abandoning its failed war on drugs, 
beginning with marijuana. Voters in 18 states and the District of 
Columbia have approved the medical use of marijuana, and on Nov. 6 
Washington and Colorado became the first states to legalize marijuana 
for personal use.

It's about time.

Since its inception in 1971, as Katrina vanden Heuvel points out in 
The Washington Post, the war on drugs has resulted in 45 million 
arrests but no discernible decrease in drug use. "The result of this 
trillion-dollar crusade?" she asks. "Americans aren't drug free-we're 
just the world's most incarcerated population. We make China look 
like Woodstock."

The American public is finally starting to agree-hence the 
liberalization of marijuana laws.

The question now is how the federal government will respond to the 
new state laws, since they conflict with federal restrictions. So far 
the Obama administration's response has been inconsistent at best. In 
October 2009 the Department of Justice announced that it would not 
prosecute medical-marijuana providers who were following state laws, 
but two years later federal prosecutors in California began 
large-scale raids on cultivators and distributors, shutting down 600 
dispensaries.

Recently, during an interview on CNN, Gov. Jerry Brown was asked his 
opinion on the new laws in Washington and Colorado. He came down 
firmly on the side of states' rights.

"I believe the president and the Justice Department ought to respect 
the will of these sovereign states," Brown said. "[They] shouldn't 
try to nullify a reasonable state regulation. The measures that have 
gotten so far have gotten there after vigorous debate. ... We don't 
need some federal gendarme to come and tell us what to do...."

Not that the medical-marijuana business in California is benign, as 
Butte County residents well understand. Timothy Egan, writing in The 
New York Times, notes, "This chaotic and unregulated system has 
resulted in price-gouging, phony prescriptions and outright scams. No 
wonder pot dispensaries have opposed legalization-it could put them 
out of business."

Moving marijuana from the black market into legitimate retail stores, 
where it can be regulated and taxed just as liquor is, is a necessary 
precondition to having a serious discussion about use and abuse. As 
Egan says, "The model is the campaign against drunk driving, which 
has made tremendous strides and saved countless lives at a time when 
alcohol is easier to get than ever before. Education, without 
one-sided moralizing, works."

It will be interesting to see how Washington's and Colorado's 
experiments in legalization play out. Clearly, the historical trend 
is toward increased loosening and abandonment of marijuana and other 
drug restrictions. If nothing else, we can't afford to keep 500,000 
people behind bars, and costing up to $60,000 a year each, for drug offenses.

President Obama has positioned himself as a transformative leader. He 
has an opportunity now to live up to his promise by ending the war on 
drugs. If he chooses not to do so, at the very least he should leave 
the states alone to try new approaches.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom