Pubdate: Thu, 18 Apr 2013
Source: Minneapolis Star-Tribune (MN)
Copyright: 2013 Star Tribune
Contact: http://www.startribunecompany.com/143
Website: http://www.startribune.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/266
Author: Kavon Nikrad
Note: Kavon W. Nikrad is an opinion columnist and conservative 
blogger, and was a 2011-12 Policy Fellow at the University of 
Minnesota's Humphrey School of Public Affairs.
Page: 13

OPPOSING THE WAR ON DRUGS: GOOD POLICY, GOOD POLITICS

This does not mean giving the thumbs-up to drug use. There can be no 
doubt that recreational drug use can ruin lives.

However, a felony conviction can be even more devastating. Does 
anyone think jailing a father who responsibly uses marijuana does 
him, his economic prospects, or his family any good? The president of 
the United States is a former recreational marijuana user, even 
publicly thanking his pot-smoking buddies in his high school yearbook.

Does anyone think that the course of Barack Obama's life would have 
been improved by an arrest when he was young?

Statistical evidence linking drug decriminalization to reduced 
drug-related societal damage abounds.

Slightly more than a decade ago, Portugal decriminalized all drugs, 
choosing instead to treat the matter as a public health concern.

The result has been a staggering 50 percent decrease in the estimated 
number of addicts, as well as declining rates of overall drug use and 
drug-related diseases.

This makes sense.

Most people avoid a drug like heroin not because it is illegal, but 
because it is incredibly risky to consume.

Few people, in other words, would ever try heroin, regardless of its 
legal status.

However, it is far better for help to be openly available for those 
who do try the drug. When we treat the situations that lead to drug 
use as health issues and not a criminal matter, we eliminate 
hesitation to come forward for help - and thus, the length, severity 
and damage of addiction.

Conservatives used to argue that the federal government cannot fix 
cultural problems through social-engineering legislation. That 
argument was right, and the results of the drug war are living proof 
of it. It is time for the Republican Party to take the lead in ending 
this failed policy.

The GOP should own this issue.

At election time, it would reap the rewards.

Since President Obama's re-election, it has been said the GOP could 
be on the verge of irrelevance, mainly because of changes in 
demographics and attitudes among the young.

Yet a new generation of market-minded conservatives could quickly 
bring the GOP back among young and minority voters if they have the 
courage to consistently apply their limited-government principles to 
the drug war.

It should be telling to conservatives that liberal Democrats such as 
Obama and Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., are among the most reliable 
pro-drug-war politicians on the national scene. Despite promises to 
the contrary on the 2008 campaign trail, Obama has ramped up federal 
raids on state medical marijuana dispensaries, surpassing those 
ordered by President George W. Bush. More recently, as secretary of 
state, Hillary Clinton shot down Latin American leaders' suggestion 
that drug decriminalization be put on the table.

The United Nations has warned the Obama administration that Colorado 
and Washington, both of which recently legalized marijuana for 
recreational use, were acting in deliberate defiance of international 
law and that the administration has a duty to uphold multinational treaties.

These should all have been perfect opportunities for the GOP to 
demonstrate to young and minority voters that federalism and limited 
government are principles that apply across the board.

Yet instead of seizing the moment and standing up for federalism, 
Republicans have been silent, choosing to cast their lot with a 
demonstrably failed policy.

Conservatism is supposed to integrate the wisdom of history into 
modern affairs.

The most reliable guide to good policy, conservatives hold, is not 
abstract theory but the lessons of experience. Richard Nixon launched 
the "war on drugs" with the intention of eliminating the scourge of 
drug use. Seven presidents, millions of jailed drug users and 
hundreds of billions of dollars later, we are no closer to 
eliminating drug use than we were to eliminating alcohol use during 
Prohibition.

In fact, evidence indicates that marijuana use is on the rise in 
recent years among high school students. There is no evidence that 
imprisoning drug users will lead to reduced availability on the streets.

Meanwhile, new recreational drugs (think "bath salts") are being 
synthesized faster than Congress can criminalize them. Can there be 
any doubt that Republican Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey was right 
when he declared the drug war a failure?

Opposing the failed drug war would give the Republican Party a 
historic opportunity to recapture not only a large percentage of the 
youth vote, but some of the black vote, too. The drug war has been 
devastating for the black community. Despite comprising only 12 
percent of the population, blacks make up 62 percent of those sent to 
state prisons for drug offenses. Black men are sent to prison for 
drug offenses at 13 times the rate of white men. This is "big 
government" at its worst and most discriminatory. Where are big 
government's supposed opponents when racial minorities need them? 
Republicans should stand up for the black community and call for an 
end to the failed drug war.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom