Pubdate: Wed, 28 Nov 2012
Source: Epoch TImes, The (International)
Copyright: 2012 Epoch Times International
Contact:  http://en.epochtimes.com/change_edition.html
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/4485
Author: Conan Milner

LEGALIZING MARIJUANA IN COLORADO AND WASHINGTON CHANGES DRUG WAR

Marijuana legalization advocates and members of community groups
attend a rally against marijuana arrests in front of One Police Plaza
on June 13, 2012 in New York City. The recent passage in Colorado and
Washington of propositions declaring marijuana legal for personal use
has changed the U.S. War on Drugs. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

Marijuana legalization advocates and members of community groups
attend a rally against marijuana arrests in front of One Police Plaza
on June 13, 2012 in New York City. The recent passage in Colorado and
Washington of propositions declaring marijuana legal for personal use
has changed the U.S. War on Drugs. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

The 2012 election was a game changer in U.S. marijuana law-for the
first time in over 70 years, two states legalized the plant for
recreational use. It's a defiant break from long-standing federal
prohibition, yet other states are considering a similar path. Is
America going to pot, or is there more behind legalizing marijuana
than just an excuse to get high?

To date, 18 states and the District of Columbia have legalized medical
marijuana, but voters in Colorado and Washington have taken another
step: ending prohibition.

While the two laws differ on details, voter referendums passed in both
states essentially grant cannabis the same restrictions as alcohol:
permitted only for adults over 21.

To some, marijuana is a panacea of health and happiness. To others, a
slothful scourge. As with any modern controversy, numerous studies
make a case for both sides.

But it is the changing attitude toward legislation that is finding
more common ground. You can find many unexpected legalization allies
in an organization called LEAP (Law Enforcement Against Prohibition).
Founded in 2002, the group consists of individuals who have fought on
the front lines of America's drug war, including police, judges,
prosecutors, and federal agents.

Founding LEAP member and Board Chair Jack Cole has witnessed the
effects of U.S. drug laws up close and in practice. Cole retired as
Detective Lieutenant after a 26-year career with the New Jersey State
Police. More than half of his career was spent in narcotics, mostly
undercover.

"When I got out, I felt very bad about my role in implementing what
today I've decided is not just a failed drug policy, but a
self-perpetuating and constantly expanding policy disaster," Cole
said. "Every year it's worse than it was the year before. And every
year we try to correct for it by throwing more cops and more money at
it."

To understand Cole's change of heart, you have to consider the federal
policy it's breaking from-the War on Drugs.

"As more states begin following Colorado and Washington's lead,
eventually the whole house of cards is going to fall."

- - Paul Armentano, deputy director of NORML.

Cole offers a compelling array of facts and statistics detailing the
tragedies of America's longest running "war": the rise in gangs and
violence, the enormous racial disparity in policing and prosecution,
and the alarming increase in unsolved murders, robberies, and rapes
that correlate closely with a system incentivized at every level to
focus on drug arrests.

"[Police] don't want marijuana legalized because they get overtime
pay; they get better salaries; they get promotions; they get
top-of-the-line equipment, all based on the number of arrests they
make," said Cole. "This is considered by cops the low-hanging fruit."

But after 42 years, a trillion-and-a-half in tax dollars, and 46
million arrests of nonviolent drug offenders, Cole says America's War
on Drugs has had little to show for itself.

"We should make marijuana legal so we can keep it out of the hands of
our children, who have told us in every government survey for the last
30 years that it is easier in the U.S. to buy illegal drugs than it is
to buy beer," Cole said as part of his research-based list of reasons.
"Why? Because they get carded when they ask to buy beer." War Casualties

"The House I Live In" is a film that attempts to portray a sense of
the devastation the drug war has caused. The film won the highest
award for a documentary at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival, and is a
sobering look at American drug laws-from their history as "thinly
veiled instruments of racial control," to today's mandatory minimum
sentencing, which critics say does more damage to individuals and
families than the drugs themselves.

Filmmaker Eugene Jarecki says the drug war has essentially taken a
health problem-addiction-and turned it into a criminal problem,
designed to reap political and economic gain. He says the only reason
more people aren't outraged by the policy is because it hasn't touched
them in ways they can easily see.

"If they haven't lost their brother, or uncle, or cousin, or child, or
grandchild to the voracious jaws of the drug war yet, they may not
have done the math of how disruptive it is," he said. Finding a Solution

According to a recent Rasmussen poll, 82 percent of Americans say the
drug war has failed. Legalization advocates point to U.S. alcohol
prohibition as the cautionary tale, and surprising policies in Europe
for the cure.

"We want to end drug prohibition just like we ended alcohol
prohibition in 1933 in this country," Cole said. "The day after that
terrible law, Al Capone and all of his buddies were out of business.
They were off our streets. They were no longer out there killing each
other. They were no longer killing our children caught in the
crossfire in driveby shootings. They were no longer killing us cops,
charged with fighting that useless war."

Cole says that like alcohol prohibition, it's illegality that makes
marijuana so dangerous, producing an "obscene profit motive" for what
is essentially just a weed.

"It grows anywhere, and yet this weed is worth almost as much as gold,
ounce for ounce," said Cole. "That's nuts-it's just a weed! If it were
legal, it would have almost zero value."

According to DEA estimates, U.S. marijuana sales account for 60
percent of the profit for Mexican drug cartels-profit that Cole says
could be instantly wiped out if the weed were legal and regulated.

Just as with alcohol prohibition, illegality has done little to deter
marijuana use. According to the National Organization for the Reform
of Marijuana Laws (NORML), cannabis remains the third most-popular
recreational drug of choice for Americans (behind alcohol and
tobacco), despite decades of criminal prohibition.

"Legalizing and regulating cannabis like alcohol and tobacco is an
acknowledgement of the reality that cannabis is already an intrinsic
part of existing society," said NORML Deputy Director Paul Armentano.
"So the question then becomes: How do we put a policy in place that
best reduces the potential risks to the user-abuse of the drug-and
limits access among young people?"

LEAP looks to Switzerland as a model for better drug laws; Jarecki
prefers Portugal. But both agree that the United States could learn a
lot by examining an alternative approach.

In what may seem to be a counter-intuitive strategy, in 2001 Portugal
decriminalized all drugs for people 18 and over. Despite criticism
that the move would make the country the drug tourist capital of the
world, over a decade later the statistics speak for themselves.

"Instead of chaos, drug use in every age category went down. And the
biggest drop was among the youngest people," said Cole. "For children
from 13 to 15 years old, drug abuse declined by 25 percent. And from
16 to 18 years old, drug use declined by 22 percent. It cut heroin
dose deaths by 52 percent. Blood-borne diseases declined 71 percent."
Anticipating Federal Reaction

Of course, not everybody is sold on the idea of legalization.
Following the wins in Colorado and Washington, former drug policy
advisor Kevin Sabet said that while reform may be needed, ending
marijuana prohibition goes too far. He warns that the new state laws
will only make drug access easier for young people, and lead to a
potential increase in auto accidents and drug-induced mental illness.

But so far, the most significant voice of concern has come from
outside the United States.

In a Nov. 15 statement, the U.N.'s International Narcotics Control
Board (INCB) said the laws in Colorado and Washington "pose a great
threat to public health and well-being of society far beyond those
states." After nearly 14 years as an undercover narcotics officer,
today Jack Cole speaks out in favor of legalizing drugs. (LEAP)

After nearly 14 years as an undercover narcotics officer, today Jack
Cole speaks out in favor of legalizing drugs. (LEAP)

According to INCB President Raymond Yans, cannabis legalization "would
send wrong and confusing signals to youth and society in general,
giving the false impression that drug abuse might be considered normal
and even, most disturbingly, safe."

While the state measures now conflict with federal law, they may have
caused a rift in international law as well. Yans accuses the two
states of violating the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs in
which 185 nations (including the United States) agreed to "place
cannabis under control and limit its use to medical purposes."

Yans says the United States has an obligation to clamp down on
legalization efforts.

But the Obama administration has yet to give an official statement.
However, the feds have been down this road before. When California
made a push for legalization in 2010, the U.S. Department of Justice
(DOJ) drew a line in the sand. Proposition 19 never passed, but feds
pledged that if it did, they would step in to do the work that state
law enforcement wouldn't.

In a 2010 letter sent to former DEA administrators, U.S. Attorney
General Eric Holder said that prosecution of marijuana distribution,
manufacture, and possession would remain "a core priority" of DOJ, and
that they would "vigorously enforce" the measure even if it was
"permitted under state law."

But NORML's Armentano says that judging by history, the federal
government will eventually cave to the will of the states.

Just as was seen with the fall of alcohol prohibition, Armentano says
that if enough states band together, the federal government will lack
the manpower, funding sources, political will, and public support to
continue its drug policy.

"As more states begin following Colorado and Washington's lead,
eventually the whole house of cards is going to fall," said Armentano.
"Because without state and local law enforcement actually carrying out
the prohibition of cannabis by targeting small-time users, by
arresting them and prosecuting them, the federal policy doesn't have
any teeth."

But LEAP isn't taking any chances. On Nov. 20, the group sent a letter
to Attorney General Holder, urging him not to interfere with the will
of Colorado and Washington voters.

"This is not a challenge to you, but an invitation-an invitation to
help return our profession to the principles that made us enter law
enforcement in the first place," states the letter.

To its credit, the Obama administration has shown signs of changing
course. In April 2012, the federal government announced a revision of
U.S. drug policy, which allocates more resources to treatment rather
than incarceration.

But critics say that while the language has changed, the budget has
not.

According to Diane Goldstein, a grandmother and LEAP member who served
21 years with the Redondo Beach Police Department, funding favors
enforcement over treatment 2-to-1, even though the federal government
has known for decades that treatment is a much more effective strategy.

"They may be parroting a good line, but at this point I'm not certain
that they're actually implementing or making any changes," said
Goldstein. "They clearly understand that they're on the losing end of
this war on drugs, and if they don't change the message it's going to
end much sooner than they want."
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