Ending Prohibition a 2010 Platform for Politicians?

The Marijuana Policy Project is currently campaigning in Arizona and Nevada to get initiatives on the 2010 ballot. MPP has a successful track record fighting marijuana prohibition, but Americans need to pressure politicians to start seeing change on the federal level.

If more constituents voiced their opinion we would surely see politicians using the end of marijuana prohibition as a platform. Think about it, the goal of elected officials is to win their next election, usually by any means possible.

Norm Stamper was the chief of police in Seattle before Gil Kerlikowske, our current drug czar. In his latest blog entry he mentions that three progressive magazines are featuring the marijuana prohibition topic. He also questions the substantial divide between public opinion and our politician's stance on marijuana prohibition.

Three out of four Americans believe the "war on drugs" is a failure and can never be won. Serious people like Sen. Jim Webb, former Mexican president Vicente Fox, Congressmen Barney Frank, Charlie Rangel, Steve Cohen and others, even a growing body of right-of-center analysts and politicians have been saying it's time to fundamentally reshape our approach to drug control.

So, why this divide between massive public opposition to current policies and the positions taken by our leaders? Fear, of course. They're afraid of being punished for touching what has been perceived, mistakenly, as a third rail issue.

A World Wide Breakdown

With all the recent media buzz surrounding marijuana and the "drug war", it is easy for Americans to forget about the rest of the world. We need to understand that drugs are a worldwide issue that affects people everywhere.

This article points out the problem is alot worst than just the Mexican drug cartels whose violence is starting to spill into the United States. It also makes one realize that America has it's problems but it is still a great country to live in.

Anything goes in the “war on drugs,” or so it seems. Governments around the world have used it as an excuse for unchecked human rights abuse and irrational policies based on knee-jerk reactions rather than scientific evidence. This has caused tremendous human suffering. It also undermines drug control efforts. .... In 2003, law enforcement officials in Thailand killed more than 2,700 people in the government’s “war on drugs.” More than 30 U.N. member states, including China, Indonesia and Malaysia, retain the death penalty for drug offenses — some as a mandatory sentence — in violation of international law. In Russia, untold thousands of heroin users cannot obtain opioid substitution treatment because the government has banned methadone, despite its proven effectiveness.

They even continue to argue that health care across the world has deteriorated because of our naive focus on controlling drug abuse.

The “war on drugs” has distracted countries from their obligation to ensure that narcotic drugs are available for medical purposes. As a result, 80 percent of the world population — including 5.5 million cancer patients and 1 million terminally ill AIDS patients — has no access to treatment for severe pain. Strong pain medications are almost unavailable in most African countries. In India alone some 1 million cancer patients endure severe pain; most have no access to appropriate medications because of restrictions on prescribing them.

America needs to lead the world with new public policy and a new stance on drugs. The United Nations and other countries are searching for someone to guide them in the right direction. The world will start taking alternatives more seriously as America and other countries do. Portugal's drug decriminalization has gone relatively unnoticed, but skeptics have started backing off as empirical data continues to support the change.

The international reporters finish "A Misguided War on Drugs" with a grave warning the world needs to take seriously.

This is not only a human rights problem: It is bad public policy. Research shows that abusive drug control practices, including mass incarceration, are ineffective in controlling illicit drug consumption and drug-related crime, and in protecting public health. Scientific evidence has shown that more supportive “harm-reduction” programs prevent HIV among injection drug users, protect people’s health and lower future health costs. And for those with untreated pain, ignoring their needs removes them and their caregivers from productive life..... Too many lives are at stake for the current head-in-the-sand politics, and if the United Nations and member states continue to bury their heads, they will be complicit in the abuses.

The Failure of Prohibition and the U.N.

"The Failure of the War on Drugs: Charting a New Course for the Commonwealth" sounds like another opinion article written by a hopeful marijuana activist. In reality The Massachusetts Bar Association issued this report calling for drug policies to be reexamined.

The report points to four areas of widespread failure: the increase of arrests without the diminished use of illegal drugs, a disparate impact of drug laws on minority groups, economic effects for offenders looking for work with a criminal record, and high rates of recidivism.

The United Nations is supporting drug decriminalization in their 2009 World Drug Report. When Portugal decriminalized drugs in 2001 the U.N. wasn't clear about if they were violating any international drug treaties. Statements made in the most recent report should ease concerns any country might have while reexamining their drug laws. Ryan Grim highlights part of 2009's World Drug Report.

But in its 2009 World Drug Report, the UN had little but kind words for Portugal's radical (by U.S. standards) approach. "These conditions keep drugs out of the hands of those who would avoid them under a system of full prohibition, while encouraging treatment, rather than incarceration, for users. Among those who would not welcome a summons from a police officer are tourists, and, as a result, Portugal's policy has reportedly not led to an increase in drug tourism," reads the report. "It also appears that a number of drug-related problems have decreased."

New Hampshire is trying to become the 14th state to pass medical marijuana legislation. After the original bill passed Governor John Lynch demanded some changes before he would sign the bill. The changes have been made and the new bill is now awaiting his signature.

"The Law and Marijuana": NORML Essays

A series of essays is being published by NORML, submissions were sent in by attorney's from their legal committee. Sean McAllister, from Breckenridge Colorado, detailed a number of the reasons why marijuana prohibition is still going on in America. He points to prohibition failures as one of the many reasons we need to explore legalization.

Marijuana remains illegal even though prohibition has miserably failed. After 35 years of a war on drugs largely targeting marijuana, the same number of high school students now say marijuana is easy to get and they had used it as answered those question in the affirmative in 1975. It remains illegal even though the Obama administration has declared an end to the “war on drugs,” while at the same time laughing off marijuana legalization.

This Huffington Post article provides an in depth examination of Barney Frank's recent marijuana legislation.

The medical marijuana bill aims to fix a problem in the federal classification of marijuana. The problem was best summed up in a live performance by Bill Maher I saw a number of months ago, where he talked about medical marijuana laws that states such as California (and others) have passed. I don't remember his exact words, but it went something like this: "It's still illegal to grow it, it's illegal for doctors to prescribe it, it's illegal to sell it, it's illegal to buy it, but if a joint happens to fall from the sky into your lips, then it's OK to smoke it."

"America's High" special that Anderson Cooper last week was disappointing to me. Each weeknight two segments aired featuring a pot story. Most of the information was recycled, and I felt they should have followed more current news headlines. Instead they just ran features of stories that have been in the headlines for months. Below is a video of Bruce Mirken on CNBC discussing marijuana.

Barney Frank Calling for Bold Change

Barney Frank reintroduced legislation entitled, "Act to Remove Federal Penalties for Personal Use of Marijuana by Responsible Adults". Eliminating federal penalties for personal possession of up to 100 grams.

Passage of this act would provide state lawmakers the choice to maintain their current penalties for minor marijuana offenses or eliminate them completely. Lawmakers would also have the option to explore legal alternatives to tax and regulate the adult use and distribution of cannabis free from federal interference.

This great piece of news follows Rhode Island's overriding their Governor's recent veto of a bill allowing compassion centers. "Drugs Won The War" hammered at many of the valid points marijuana decriminalization has. His statement below is something I believe more opponents should be investigating more.

Moving forward, we need to be less ideological and more empirical in figuring out what works in combating America’s drug problem. One approach would be for a state or two to experiment with legalization of marijuana, allowing it to be sold by licensed pharmacists, while measuring the impact on usage and crime.