Pubdate: Fri, 05 Apr 2013 Source: Washington Post (DC) Copyright: 2013 The Washington Post Company Contact: http://mapinc.org/url/mUgeOPdZ Website: http://www.washingtonpost.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/491 Author: Peter Wehner Note: Peter Wehner is a senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center. He was director of the White House Office of Strategic Initiatives in the George W. Bush administration and special assistant to the director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy during the George H.W. Bush administration. Page: A11 REPUBLICANS SHOULD JUST SAY NO Some say that the Republican Party needs to find new issues to champion if it hopes to become America's majority party. There is something to this. But being a conservative party, the GOP should also look to the past, where wisdom often resides. In that spirit, Republicans once again should take a strong stand against drug use and legalization. Virtually no lawmaker in either party is doing so. For his part, President Obama has said more about the NCAA men's basketball bracket than he has about the dangers posed by illegal drugs. Gil Kerlikowske, the president's "drug czar," said last month that "The administration has not done a particularly good job of, one, talking about marijuana as a public health issue, and number two, talking about what can be done and where we should be headed on our drug policy." This is a startling admission, and there is a cost to abdication. The drug-legalization movement is well-funded and making inroads. Voters in Washington state and Colorado passed ballot initiatives in November legalizing marijuana for recreational use. A bill to legalize marijuana was introduced in the Maryland House of Delegates last month. And Democrats in Congress have introduced legislation to end federal prohibitions on marijuana use. This is the perfect time for Republicans to offer counter arguments grounded in medical science, common sense and human experience. For example: One of the main deterrents to drug use is because it is illegal. If drugs become legal, their price will go down and use will go up. And marijuana is far - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom