Drugs Won The War, Now A Cancer

Big thanks to Mr. Brautigan, Mr. Weiner, Dr. Weitzner, Mr. Poeton, and Mr. Shainberg for making my morning a bit brighter. I somehow missed Nicolas D. Kristof's June 14th article Drugs Won The War. Their letters of support in favor of Kristof's argument made me truly happy to see that finally American citizens are standing up for this and are not afraid to voice their opinions on cannabis decriminalization / legalization / whatever, general drug prohibition reform. One of the writers is a physician discussing the simple health differences between alcohol and marijuana - while another is prosecutor with legal experience during the crack epidemic in Brooklyn making two excellent points about the chances of rehabilitating a criminal rather than someone that considers themselves a legitimate citizen and the wasted time and money spent by our military forces burning poppy fields in Afghanistan (not to mention that field is, unfortunately, some family's income). Another writer speaks to the parallel between the loss of power of the prohibition gangsters and a possible solution to the drug-cash fueled South American cartels and the Taliban. I find it interesting that the only letter published (now, I don't know how much of this is New York Times' spin - but hey, I'm not complaining, drug decriminalization never gets any positive spin) comes from Mr. Bob Weiner, the White House National Drug Policy Office spokesman from 1995 - 2001. Now, I don't dislike Bill Clinton at all, in fact I really like him, but he didn't do anything good for drug policy, that's for damn sure. Some of the points are pretty silly, he says that there seems to be a link to drugs and crime - no way that could have anything to do with the fact that drugs are illegal - and therefore now deeply rooted in our criminal culture? He also uses empty threats such as crack and cocaine use is down - "Want to go back?" Come on American politician and policy makers - I thought we were past these silly scare tactics. He threatens that hospital and emergency rooms would be flooded, and crime would return to crisis levels. This is ridiculous - it hasn't happened in any other country with lax drug policies - what makes him think it would happen here? There's nothing to suggest that decriminalization of cannabis would have any effect on the use of crack cocaine, would not increase violence, nor would it flood hospital emergency rooms. Mr. Weiner ends his statement saying that they are going to stop using the phrase war on drugs and instead use the word cancer, kind of a nonsensical solution but OK. If the government wants to really look at what kind of things are effective - I think it's safe to say these key phrases that they spend so much time coming up with are a huge waste of time. Whether you call it a war, a prohibition, or a cancer, the problem is not going to disappear or go into "remission" until policies, not catch-phrases, are changed.