-Caveat Lector- http://www.nytimes.com/2000/12/30/opinion/30JOHN.html December 30, 2000 Another Prohibition, Another Failure By GARY E. JOHNSON ANTA FE, N.M. -- While many Americans followed the coverage of President Clinton's symbolic gesture granting clemency to two federal drug offenders last week, an important development in national drug policy received less attention: Mr. Clinton became the first sitting president to question the impact of our nation's war on drugs. In a recent issue of Rolling Stone magazine, Mr. Clinton said he supported decriminalization of small amounts of marijuana and an end to the disparity in sentencing for offenses involving crack and powder cocaine. He also questioned the use of mandatory sentences for nonviolent drug offenders and called for serious reconsideration of the federal imprisonment policies that result in hundreds of thousands of nonviolent drug offenders winding up behind bars for years. I hope that governors, members of Congress and other elected officials will take note of Mr. Clinton's comments. Americans want policies that save lives, keep drugs out of the hands of children and humanely treat those suffering from drug addiction. The drug war accomplishes none of that. Too many Americans have lost faith in our approach to the war on drugs, as shown on Election Day when voters in five states approved various ballot initiatives that moderate harsh drug policies, including some measures that allow drug treatment instead of prison for nonviolent offenders or approve the medical use of marijuana when it is recommended by a doctor. As governor of New Mexico, I have called repeatedly for a serious reevaluation of our current drug strategies. I'm neither soft on crime nor pro-drugs in any sense. Yet when I ask whether our costly, protracted war on drugs has made the world safer for our children, I must answer no. The federal anti-drug budget in 1980 was roughly $1 billion. By 2000, that number had climbed to nearly $20 billion, with the states spending at least that much. Yet according to the federal government's own research, drugs are cheaper, purer and more readily available than ever before. As a nation we now have nearly half a million people behind bars on drug charges, more than the total prison population in all of Western Europe. And the burden of this explosion in incarceration falls disproportionately on black and Latino communities. When we consider the social and public health costs, the illogic of our distinction between legal and illegal drugs is staggering. Nearly 70 million Americans have smoked marijuana, which remains the third-most popular recreational drug in the country after tobacco and alcohol. Deaths attributable to marijuana are very rare. In fact, deaths from all illegal drugs combined, including cocaine and heroin, are fewer than 20,000 annually. By contrast, more than 450,000 Americans die each year from tobacco or alcohol use (not counting drunk-driving fatalities). Should we outlaw liquor and cigarettes? Ask anyone who remembers our nation's disastrous experiment with alcohol prohibition. Perhaps the most pernicious aspect of the drug war, in fact, is the crime and violence that drug prohibition generates. Without achieving anything like the goal of a drug-free America, our policies have empowered a lethal black market, complete with international armies of latter- day Al Capones. Their warfare against each other and against law enforcement will not be stopped until the public takes the regulation and control of their commodity away from them. In considering alternatives, we might look to Holland as a model. The Dutch, who decriminalized marijuana in 1976 and treat drug addiction medically rather than criminally, enjoy far lower rates of crime and drug use than we do. It is not outlandish to suggest that an alternative approach might lead to less drug-related harm, less imprisonment and less crime in America as well. Let me be very clear: We must never tolerate the violence resulting from the use of drugs. But neither should we, nor do we have to, tolerate the needless casualties of drug prohibition. Here in New Mexico, I am looking for new ways to deal with drug- related problems at the state level. We are working to redirect our resources into drug education programs; into harm reduction programs like needle exchange for injection drug users, which has been proven by numerous government studies to reduce the spread of diseases like AIDS and hepatitis without increasing drug use; and into treatment programs like methadone maintenance, the treatment proven most effective for heroin addiction. President Clinton's recent words on drug-policy reforms were a welcome first step. His comments should be the start of a new national debate, and not simply the last word of a departing administration. Gary E. Johnson, a Republican, is the governor of New Mexico. Copyright 2000 The New York Times Company Forwarded by: Arthur Livermore, Director Falcon Cove Biology Laboratory P.O. Box 47 Arch Cape, OR 97102 503-436-1882 [EMAIL PROTECTED] <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. 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