Pubdate: Mon, 24 Apr 2006
Source: New York Daily News (NY)
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ideas-opinions/story/411433p-348028c.html
Contact:  http://www.nydailynews.com/
Address: 450 W. 33rd St., New York, N.Y. 10001
Copyright: 2006 Daily News, L.P.
Author: Stanley Crouch
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/decrim.htm (Decrim/Legalization)

BREAK ADDICTION TO SENSELESS WAR ON DRUGS

In the ongoing battle over the legalization of marijuana for 
medicinal purposes, the Food and Drug Administration has now shown 
that ideology can bend almost anything to its will. Last week, the 
FDA claimed that "no sound scientific studies" supported the medical 
use of the drug - flatly contradicting a 1999 review by the Institute 
of Medicine. That seems strange, given that the Institute is part of 
the National Academy of Sciences, the nation's most prestigious 
scientific advisory agency.

Could one group of scientists be so far off as to come up with a 
completely incorrect reading of the medicinal value of the drug? I 
doubt it - and so do many others who feel that right-wing politics 
have trumped science yet again.

But that, it seems to me, is the least important issue connected to 
the legalization of drugs. The three most important reasons to call a 
ceasefire in the insane "war" we've been fighting for decades are the 
reduction of crime, the expansion of the tax base and the 
contribution to the economy.

Whether or not anyone likes it, recreational drug use has become part 
of American social life - and it is that use, not addiction, that 
fuels the trade. If addicts alone were spending money on drugs, the 
problem could have been licked or dramatically reduced long ago.

As for the reduction of crime, we are constantly getting benumbing 
reports that tell us how many inner city young men drop out of school 
to sell drugs, naively looking for a fast way to make big money. Such 
young men are the drones of the business. If we ended the illicit 
nature of the trade, the drones would either stay in school or 
surprise us and find a legal line of work.

The real economic winners in the drug business these days are the 
high-level dealers and traders. When it comes to them, America is 
being played for a chump in exactly the way we were during 
Prohibition. That's when the Mafia gathered all the capital it needed 
to become a formidable national criminal organization because public 
demand for drinking was greater than fear of the consequences of drinking.

If we ended today's version of Prohibition and legalized drugs, we 
could stop the murderous drug wars and pull billions of dollars out 
of the shadow world. Taxes could be levied and public rehabilitation 
centers supported.

In that way, victory could be pulled from the jaws of a very obvious 
defeat. Some call this position defeatist - but it's far more 
realistic than craven. It's simply a matter of facing the facts of 
our time rather than pushing our heads under the sand - no matter how 
many young men are in our penal system for either the sale or the 
possession of drugs, no matter how many are killed in drug wars and 
no matter how obvious it has become that recreational drug use is here to stay.

We are still a long way from waking up to these facts. But we can 
wake up, and we will. After all, once upon a time, many thought 
slavery would go on forever and women would never get the vote.