Pubdate: Thu, 18 Jul 2002
Source: Orlando Sentinel (FL)
Copyright: 2002 Orlando Sentinel
Contact:  http://www.orlandosentinel.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/325
Author: Sheryl McCarthy

WHEN IT COMES TO POT, THERE'S A REASON BRITAIN IS GREAT

The British took a big leap forward recently, announcing a plan to 
downgrade marijuana's status as an illegal drug.

Instead of treating pot like much harder drugs, such as cocaine and heroin, 
Prime Minister Tony Blair's government will push a proposal to put it more 
on par with, say, steroids.

Instead of arresting people who're caught with small amounts of marijuana, 
the police in most cases will simply confiscate the drugs and give the 
offender a warning. The point is to free the police to concentrate on more 
serious crimes, government officials said.

With this latest move, Britain is finally getting more in step with the 
rest of Western Europe, where only a handful of Scandinavian countries 
still treat marijuana smoking as a crime. In Spain, Portugal, Belgium and 
the Netherlands, they don't arrest marijuana users; in Spain and Portugal, 
not even hard-drug use is a crime.

The United States should emulate its closest ally. Enough finger-pointing 
at the decadent Dutch, with their pot shops and needle parks. We'd be in 
the same league as the normally strait-laced Brits. A less flexible drug 
policy hasn't served the British well, as they have one of the highest 
drug-death rates in Western Europe.

So it's time to try something more sensible.

And because Blair cozies up to George W. Bush on most things, maybe he 
could whisper in the president's ear that we have one of the most senseless 
drug policies in the world.

In 2000, the last year for which the FBI has crime statistics, 743,000 
people were arrested for marijuana offenses, 88 percent of them for simple 
possession. Before Rudolph Giuliani became mayor, fewer than 800 marijuana 
arrests were being made in New York City each year. After his crackdown on 
so-called quality-of-life crimes, the number skyrocketed to 52,000.

If, as the current mayor, Mike Bloomberg, admits, he has not only smoked 
marijuana, but really enjoyed it, should we continue arresting 50,000 
people a year for doing the same thing?

Marijuana does not have the same connection to violence and crime that 
alcohol has, or the link to addiction, sickness and death that tobacco 
does. Yet alcohol and tobacco are legal -- because so many Americans like 
to smoke and drink, and because these drugs support huge industries. Yet 
marijuana, a mild intoxicant that's associated with teenagers and younger 
adults, is treated like the drug from hell.

Drugs are the third rail of U.S. politics, and few politicians are willing 
to call for changes in the current drug policy for fear of being called 
soft on drugs and soft on crime. Yet most politicians are out of step with 
the American public.

A recent Zogby poll asked, in light of the more pressing concerns caused by 
Sept. 11, if Americans favored arresting and jailing people for smoking 
marijuana. Sixty-one percent said they do not.

Twelve states have stopped arresting people who are caught with marijuana 
in public, and Nevada has a voters' initiative on the ballot this fall that 
could give it the most progressive marijuana policy in the nation. It would 
legalize possession of up to 3 ounces, authorize the state to open 
state-licensed marijuana shops and make marijuana available cheaply for 
medical purposes.

The big obstacle is the federal law that forbids the use or possession or 
sale of marijuana, and even its use for medical reasons. The federal 
government should get out of the way and let the states adopt more 
reasonable policies, if they see fit.

And the states, in short, should follow the Brits.

Sheryl McCarthy is a columnist for Newsday, a Tribune Publishing company.
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