HE'S NO CRACKHEAD

It's one thing when a glassy-eyed spokesman for the National
Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws stares at the red light
and makes an argument that marijuana is better for you than a glass of
red wine, but it's something else when Burley Mitchell is making the
case for legalizing drugs.

But that's what our state's former chief of the Supreme Court did at a
Raleigh luncheon this week. Assembled were people interested in what
to do with the state's problem of too many criminals and not enough
prison beds.

"What if we decriminalized drugs? Then you'd knock out all of the
profits of every dealer and more to the point, the big producers,"
Mitchell said. "... I think it's something that needs to be
considered."

Mitchell's fix is apparent: Eliminate the crime and eliminate the
criminal.

It's hard to know from reading The Associated Press' story on the
luncheon if Mitchell was serious about legalizing drugs or was simply
trying to advance the argument. There were a lot of blanks that need
to be filled, primarily: Which drugs would Mitchell decriminalize?

But there is no question that Mitchell was exactly right when he
proclaimed that this nation's war on drugs has been "a total failure."
While drug use has declined in the last couple of decades, we believe
it is mostly societal pressure - it's been awhile since doing drugs
was "cool" - that have produced this happy result.

Mitchell argued that police, unshackled from the burden of having to
pursue drug dealers, could concentrate more on the violence that
plagues our neighborhoods. Those who would use violence to rob and
steal to support a habit might be relieved of that need by affordable
drugs that could be purchased - and taxed - at the pharmacy. Courts
would be unclogged. And the state's race to build prisons to stay
ahead of the inmate population would end.

Moreover, the vast amount of money that would be saved could be
directed toward helping people who are addicted to drugs defeat their
menace; eliminating demand, we must add, is the only way to win the
war on drugs.

But questions remain: By legalizing drugs, would the government create
new substance abusers that otherwise would be deterred by a reverence
for the law of the land? And what message would we be sending young
people who believe themselves indestructible and are prone to
experimentation?

It seems to us that a new approach to defeating the drug menace is
needed, and if the former chief justice of the state - no stranger to
the courtroom - believes legalizing drugs is worthy of conversation,
then we don't disagree.