Pubdate: Mon, 20 Jan 2014
Source: Trentonian, The (NJ)
Copyright: 2014 The Trentonian
Contact:  http://www.trentonian.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1006
Author: Dave Neese
Page: A3

DRUG WAR CEASE-FIRE?

The War on Drugs has dragged on longer than the war in Afghanistan and
nearly as long as the War on Poverty. And with the same debatable -
and costly - results.

President Nixon was first to declare war - a "global war," he said.
Elvis Presley enlisted as a celebrity volunteer. The King of Rock 'n'
Roll himself later succumbed to drugs.

With increasing military, law enforcement and prison costs, the war
raged on through succeeding presidencies down to this day. In 1982,
President Reagan said there would be a "Drug-Free America" by 1995.

The chronicle of the war came to include Operation Condor, Operation
Anvil, the Merida Initiative, the Andean Strategy and so on - each
posited as the conclusive, victorious battle.

President Clinton put an actual general in command of the war. Gen.
Barry McCaffrey recommended it be waged at the kitchen table, with the
tactic of parents sitting down and talking to their kids. He kept the
focus, though, largely on interdiction.

President Obama, while easing up on marijuana enforcement, spent $25
billion last year on the ongoing war, less than half on prevention and
treatment.

Voter legalization of recreational marijuana use in Colorado and
Washington represents a small but dramatic - and maybe key turning
point - in the war.

Marijuana remains an illegal substance under federal law. But the U.S.
Justice Department has agreed to stay its enforcement hand in the two
states, excepting sales to minors or across state lines.

Legalization's objectives are to put an end to costly, sometimes
heavy-handed enforcement; to undercut the criminal market and to rev
up tax revenues for government coffers.

Historians say similar motives drove the repeal of alcohol
prohibition, imposed in 1920, finally lifted in 1933. (Business
interests aided repeal, including Rockefeller and DuPont money, the
historians say.)

Making legalization pay off may be no small challenge in Colorado and
Washington.

Emerging regulatory costs could be enough to give the illegal market a
price edge. And the new regulatory apparatus may place a daunting
obstacle in the way of a marijuana industry expected to generate tax
revenue.

Colorado regulations, for example, require licensed sellers to grow at
least 70 percent of their own product - a requirement demanding a
substantial field inspection and auditor force, padding the
administrative and enforcement bureaucracy.

Washington is imposing a complex, three-tier licensing system for
growers, processors and retailers, causing some to wonder whether
eventually the state workforce and its union treasuries will be the
real beneficiaries of legalized pot.
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MAP posted-by: Matt