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LEFT IN THE DUST
Americans were once renowned for their pro
gressive politics, their radical stance on personal
freedoms, and their rational approach to public
policy free from religious bias, at least in compar
ison to European theoc
racies. We embraced
rational scientific solu
tions to public policy
problems. But that was
230 years ago. We were
once Revolutionaries,
but now we re stodgy,
stubborn, and increas
ingly alienated when it comes to one of the most
pressing problems of the Western world: drug
policy. Juxtaposed to European drug policy, we've
been left in the dust.
Eleven of the 15 EU countries have already for
gone criminal penalties for marijuana use. The
most recent example is the U.K. Effective
June 2002, Cannabis will be downgraded
to a Class C drug in the U.K., comparable
to steroids and prescription tranquilizers
such as Valium. Possession will no longer
be an arrestable offense.
Considering the traditional policy align
ment between U.S. and U.K. home affairs
(excepting that messy Revolutionary War
incident), this development should be
receiving noticeably more political attention
and press coverage in the United States. Yet
I've not heard one statement from any U.S.
politician regarding this fairly significant
policy shift. It seems our government is so
far behind the pack that the dust is obscuring
its sight.
In an embarrassing episode of poor
timing, U.S. Drug Czar John Walters' recent
revamp of Reefer Madness warnings in a
series of newspaper Op Eds appeared just as
the U.K. Commons Home Affairs Committee
o
recommended the downgrading of Cannabis. 3!
The U.K. report, “The Government's Drugs
Policy: Is It Working?/' honestly admits, *
“There are no easy answers to the problems
posed by drug abuse, but it seems to us that cer
tain trends are unmistakable. If there is any single
lesson from the experience of the last 30 years, it
is that policies based wholly or mainly on enforce
ment are destined to fail." Meanwhile, our Drug
Czar, in his syndicated article ominously entitled
“The Myth of Harmless Marijuana," tried to vali
date heavy-handed drug enforcement tactics and
discredit the medical marijuana movement.
So when are the U.S. politicos going to realize
that they've been left in the dust? The outlook is
not so good if the Office
of National Drug Control
Policy continues its
policy of kicking a dead
horse. Surprising to many
was the recent admission
by the agency that anti-
drug ads are not at all
effective in curtailing
youth drug use. But instead of looking into alter
native strategies, the Drug Czar requested
an increased budget to hire
new PR and adver
tising firms and to engage m better pre
screening of commercials. Similar to a remote
control car stuck in a corner, instead of turning
around to see wide open space full of alternative
routes, the drug warriors just keep crashing into
the same two walls over and over. The Wall Street
Journal recently diagnosed the problem as “the
power of habit to create irrational behavior."
The rationality of the U.K. model, in contrast
to the U.S. “War on Drugs," lies in its allowance
for discussion and change, whereas ours barely
allows for dissent. Case in point was the discovery
that the U.S. National Drug Intelligence Center
was monitoring web sites
"probably operated by
drug legalization groups"
who reportedly want to
“increase pressure on
lawmakers to change or
abolish drug control
laws." In a supposedly
open society, it is regret
table that those who want to engage in honest
discussion over amending failed policies are
regarded as criminals who must be watched with a
wary eye. Given this attitude, is it any surprise
that we haven't heard a peep from the press about
the recent changes in the U.K.?
Most distinctive is the divergence between
U.S. and U.K. attitudes towards the drug issue. In
the U.K. report, legalization and decriminalization
advocates were referred to as "sensible and
thoughtful
people" with "attractive argu
ments." Meanwhile in the States, Rob Kampia, the
Director of the Marijuana Policy Project was told
to his face during a Congressional hearing, "You're
not a wonderful person. You're doing something
despicable..." He was also told by Congressman
Mark Souder (R-IN), "You are an articulate advo
cate for an evil position."
An essential difference in motivation defines
European drug policy as opposed to the American
crusade: rational discussion vs. emotional ranting.
Members of Parliament are taking a rational
approach to a public
policy issue; American
Congressmen exacerbate
communication problems
by getting personal. It
seems U.S. “drug war"
lords are inflexible in
their resolve to avoid any
semblance of rational
discussion or consideration of the “drug problem"
(which many define as the drug war itself, not
drug use).
The War on (some) Drugs is causing more
damage to this country than the embarrassing
prison counts and artificially inflated abuse statis
tics show. The true danger of marijuana prohibi
tion, and similar morally coercive laws, lies in its
chilling effect on personal freedom. We need to
stop kicking the dead horse of prohibition, and
instead catch up with the U.K., and the rest of
the EU, by entering into rational discus
sions about the future of drug policy
reform in the United States.
Now is the time for a rational response.
In light of the U.K.'s embrace of science to
support its public policy, we should be
demanding a similar response (or any
response at all!) from our political leaders
rather than menacing silence occasionally
pierced with hysterical warnings. War
rhetoric and continued appeals to “protect
the children" are explicitly used to divert
attention from the fact that adults are con
tinually losing individual rights over their
own bodies and minds.
The U.K.'s shift from enforcement to a
harm reduction model isn't a final solution; it
still fails to acknowledge the personal, cogni
tive liberty implications of laws that attempt
to control individual consciousness. But the
U.K. committee report acknowledges the evo
lution of drugs policy, never discounting the
future possibility of legalization.
They're looking towards future solutions,
while the United States continues to regress
into the Dark Ages.
Zara Gelsey
Zara Gelsey <s Director of Communications for
the Center for Cognitive Liberty and Ethics, o non
profit law. policy and public education center
focused on protecting freedom of thought.
Similar to a remote control car
stuck in a corner, the drug warriors
just keep crashing into the same
two walls over and over.
i
mmm
The rationality of the U.K. model
lies in its allowance for discussion
and change, whereas ours barely
allows for dissent.
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