Pubdate: Wed, 11 Dec 2013
Source: Middletown Press, The (CT)
Copyright: 2013 The Middletown Press
Contact:  http://www.middletownpress.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/586
Authors: Emily Greco and William Collins
Note: Emily Schwartz Greco is the managing editor of OtherWords, a 
non-profit national editorial service run by the Institute for Policy 
Studies. OtherWords columnist William A. Collins is a former state 
representative and a former mayor of Norwalk.

JUST SAY NO TO THE WAR ON DRUGS

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 suggests 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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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom