Pubdate: Sun, 08 Dec 2013
Source: Bristol Press (CT)
Copyright: 2013, The Bristol Press
Contact:  http://www.bristolpress.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/569
Authors: Emily Schwartz Greco and William A. Collins

IT'S TIME TO JUST SAY NO TO THE OUTMODED DRUG WAR

Old habits die hard. Take the War on Drugs. Please.

Yes, its momentum has sagged a bit now, what with the Pew Research
Center finding that a majority of Americans believe marijuana should
be legal. But don't hold your breath waiting for new national laws.

There's way too much money and political posturing riding on our
outmoded crusade.

Some individual states are starting to say no to the Drug War. Twenty
of them, plus the District of Columbia, have already legalized pot for
medical needs. Colorado's and Washington State's voters have cast
their ballots in favor of legalizing it for recreational use, too.

These are smart states that will save a ton of money on police
enforcement, court trials, and prisons. And they can tap a new revenue
source, too. In Colorado, voters recently approved a measure that will
let their state tax pot sales.

On the other hand, legalization is bad news for defense lawyers,
corporate prisons, guard unions, and drug cartels. As criminality is
reduced by legal definition, the number of criminals decreases with
it. This in turn cuts the number of jobs needed to catch, try, defend,
and incarcerate fewer people.

Like all boondoggles, the Drug War won't die quickly or quietly. And
not everyone is suffering the brunt of its injustice equally.

Stop-and-frisk laws and racially biased searches, arrests,
prosecutions, and incarcerations are tools long-abused by authorities
out to keep people of color "in their place."

Likewise, plenty of entrenched federal prosecutors remain eager to
keep up strict federal drug enforcement even in states which have
softened their own laws. Attorney General Eric Holder has told them
publicly to lay off, but changing the direction of the bureaucracy can
be like changing the direction of a battleship.

Congress, of course, isn't turning a corner just yet. Lots of
lawmakers have built careers on being "tough on drugs." Before he was
busted for cocaine, pleaded guilty, and was sentenced to a predictably
lenient one year's probation, Rep. Trey Radel voted in favor of
drug-testing food stamp recipients. The Florida Republican is now on
leave. He hasn't resigned yet, but plenty of politicians lacking his
street cred are openly coveting his House seat.

Wouldn't it help end all this madness if Radel were to stay in
Congress? He "could be a leader in backing legislative proposals that
would change not just policies but the broader debate about how to end
a failed 'drug war,'" John Nichols wrote in the Madison, Wisconsin,
Capital Times.

Nearly 40 percent of the electorate has smoked pot. That's a huge
voting bloc, but it's hard for pols and cops to change their spots.
The moral ground supporting their diatribes is now shifting beneath
their feet and one of their own has fallen into the ditch they dug for
him.
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