Pubdate: Fri, 3 Jul 2009
Source: DrugSense Weekly (DSW)
Section: Feature Article
Website: http://www.drugsense.org
Author: Norm Stamper
Note: Norm Stamper is the former Police Chief of Seattle and a member 
of LEAP. http://leap.cc/

PROGRESSIVES PUSH AGAINST DRUG WAR: WILL DEMS LISTEN?

It's official. We can now talk openly about what the great majority 
of us have known for a long time: drug prohibition isn't working, and 
never will. It's time to try something different. News organizations 
are awash in stories about the failure of the "drug war." Latest 
issues of three of the most influential progressive magazines have 
feature stories on the topic.

Mother Jones puts drug policy on its cover -- under the headline 
"Totally Wasted" ( as in, money and lives ) -- as part of a package 
including at least 10 separate pieces on topic.

http://www.motherjones.com/toc/2009/07

The American Prospect also fronts the issue, proclaiming "The End of 
the War on Drugs."

http://www.prospect.org/cs/archive/view_issue?issueId=350

The Nation has a feature ( quoting yours truly and other drug policy 
reformers, including my Law Enforcement Against Prohibition 
colleagues ) confirming that the topic has finally ripened to 
maturity, its earnest discourse inescapable.

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20090706/abramsky

It's not only newsprint publications calling out the futility and 
harmfulness of our decades-old prohibition policy. The progressive 
blogosphere, including Daily Kos, TalkLeft, Crooks and Liars, and, of 
course, Huffington Post has been devoting more and more bits and 
bytes to bashing our insane, inhumane drug laws.

So, why does the President of the United States insist on making a 
joke of the issue? Why, indeed, do most Democrats in Washington 
scramble to avoid the conversation altogether?

Three out of four Americans believe the "war on drugs" is a failure 
and can never be won.  Serious people like Sen. Jim Webb, former 
Mexican president Vicente Fox, Congressmen Barney Frank, Charlie 
Rangel, Steve Cohen and others, even a growing body of 
right-of-center analysts and politicians have been saying it's time 
to fundamentally reshape our approach to drug control.

So, why this divide between massive public opposition to current 
policies and the positions taken by our leaders? Fear, of course. 
They're afraid of being punished for touching what has been 
perceived, mistakenly, as a third rail issue.

And the cause of this "drug war dementia"? I'm guessing it has 
something to do with a brilliant 2004 poll on the topic of medical 
marijuana.  The poll asked two questions, the first confirming what 
had already been shown over and over again: that about 70 percent of 
people support the idea of legalizing marijuana, at least for medical purposes.

But then, pollsters asked something interesting:

"Regardless of your own opinion, do you think the majority of people 
support making marijuana medically available, or do you think the 
majority opposes making marijuana medically available?"

The result? In Rhode Island, where the poll was conducted, only 26.5 
percent thought that most people support medical marijuana.

The lesson here? While many of our elected representatives privately 
support serious changes to our failed drug laws, they believe they 
are alone.  They think if they stick their necks out they'll be 
handed their heads come election time.

Which is why we must rise up and let our elected officials know they 
are safe to support drug law reform. And in considerable political 
danger if they do not.

Pubdate: Thu, 2 Jul 2009

Source: Huffington Post (US Web)

Copyright: 2009 HuffingtonPost com, Inc. 
- ---
MAP posted-by: Richard Lake