Pubdate: Tue, 30 Jun 2009
Source: Appeal-Democrat (Marysville, CA)
Copyright: 2009 Appeal-Democrat
Contact:
http://www.appeal-democrat.com/sections/services/forms/editorletter.php
Website: http://www.appeal-democrat.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1343

DECRIMINALIZING SOME DRUGS NOT A RASH PROPOSAL

Editorials in this newspaper are sometimes accused of  being Utopian
or ivory-tower in nature because they  push ideas critics say are
unworkable in the modern  world. Sometimes that charge is true, as
these pages  strive to hold government and individuals to principled
behavior, to provide a kind of touchstone to remind  people of their
rights and responsibilities. One  subject on which we're accused of
promoting unworkable  ideas is the war on drugs.

Well-meaning people charge that drug legalization, or  even
decriminalization, would lead to an explosion of  drug use, and cost
millions in lost productivity.  Supporters of legalization, on the
other hand, believes  such a move would be a net benefit to society as
users  could be kept out of the criminal justice system,  lessening
the need for expensive prisons. The debate  has been going on for
years with no real answers in  sight. That's no longer the case.

An interview with Glenn Greenwald in the July issue of  Reason
magazine reveals that such an experiment has  been taking place in
Portugal since 2001. Greenwald has  penned a policy study for the
Cato Institute, "Drug  Decriminalization in Portugal: Lessons for
Creating  Fair and Successful Policies."

In the Reason interview, Greenwald notes Portugal's  decriminalization
of personal amounts of all drugs has  resulted in lower rates of drug
use, while saving the  nation the "huge amount of money that had gone
into  putting its citizens in cages." Officials then used  that
savings to fund improved treatment programs that  are more effective
in helping people kick their habits.

Decriminalization, says Greenwald, turns possession of  small amounts
of drugs into a social issues rather than  a crime problem. That
removes the adversarial  relationship between users and government,
allowing  addicts to seek treatment without fear of  incarceration.
That treatment is often successful,  turning addicts into non-users,
hence the lower rates  of drug use.

Is such a thing possible in the United States? The  interview's final
exchange provides the answer.

"Q: What's the relevance for the United States?

"A: We have debates all the time now about things like  drug policy
reform and decriminalization, and it's  based purely in speculation
and fear-mongering of all  the horrible things that are supposedly
going to happen  if we loosen our drug laws. We can remove ourselves
from the realm of the speculative by looking at  Portugal, which
actually decriminalized seven years  ago, in full, [use and possession
of] every drug. And  see that none of that parade of horribles that's
constantly warned of by decriminalization opponents  actually came to
fruition. Lisbon didn't turn into a  drug haven for drug tourists. The
explosion in drug  usage rates that was predicted never materialized.
In  fact, the opposite happened."

If the U.S. were to take the small step of  decriminalizing small
amount of drugs, it wouldn't be  setting the trend in the Western
Hemisphere. During the  media frenzy surrounding the swine flu
outbreak earlier  this year, Mexican lawmakers quietly passed a law
decriminalizing possession of small amounts of  marijuana and other
drugs. The bill awaits the  signature of Mexican President Felipe Calderone.

Like Portugal, Mexico intends to treat drug use outside  the criminal
justice system. The secretary general of  Mexico's National Institute
of Penal Services said it  best: "The important thing is ... that
consumers are  not treated as criminals. It is a public health
problem, not a penal problem."

Past efforts in Mexico for decriminalization have  resulted in
pressure from the U.S., who relies on  Mexico being a key ally to help
fight the drug war.  That pressure has doomed those efforts, but that
doesn't seem to be happening this time.

So far, the Obama administration has been publicly  silent on the law,
but a comment from the acting  director of the Drug Enforcement
Administration offers  a clue to the administration's position. At an
April  news conference, Michele Leonhart said that  legalization of
drugs "would be a failed law  enforcement strategy for both the U.S.
and Mexico." As  opposed, we suppose, to the rousing success of four
decades of the war on drugs.

If U.S. officials won't budge on a policy demonstrated  to not be
working, the least they can do is allow our  neighbors to do what they
think is best for their own  people.