WAR ON DRUGS IN NEED OF NEW STRATEGIES

President Nixon declared a War on Drugs 40 years ago last week. Since
then, by one estimate, there have been 40 million drug-related arrests
in this country. Worldwide, an estimated $1 trillion has been spent on
the war, though use of illegal drugs continues to increase.

Those kinds of numbers have renewed the call to reconsider our drug
policies.

We don't support the outright legalization of drugs, but we do welcome
the call for an open and honest debate on the subject.

We're also sensitive to the fact that Cowlitz County has
higher-than-average amount of substance abuse. The hard question is
whether putting local resources toward arrest and imprisonment of drug
abusers rather than treatment has the most effect on diminishing drug
abuse and drug-related crime -- and which approach is more
cost-effective.

The drug debate has heated up because of a new report by the Global
Commission on Drug Policy. "The global war on drugs has failed, with
devastating consequences for individuals and societies around the
world," the report says, adding that the war simply can't be won. The
commission includes the former presidents of Mexico and Colombia,
former U.N. Secretary Kofi Annan and Paul Volcker, former president of
the U.S. Federal Reserve.

Instead of punishing drug users, the commission argues that
governments should "end the criminalization, marginalization and
stigmatization of people who use drugs but who do no harm to others."

Latin America countries, in particular, have powerful reasons to want
to reconsider drug policies. The number of drug-related deaths in
Mexico, where manufacturers and distributors engage in constant,
violent turf wars, is about the same as the number of U.S. combat
deaths in both Vietnam and Korea.

Some other sobering numbers relate to drug use and punishment in the
United States.

Two independent reports by U.S. agencies showed wasteful spending on
drug eradication efforts. Those reports found that the U.S. has paid
$3 billion for contractors to fight the drug trade in Latin America
over the past five years. Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., called it
"throwing money at the problem without even knowing what we are
getting in return."

Our drug policies result in high incarceration rates. America jails a
higher percentage of its citizens than any other country, seven times
as high as the average rate for a nation in Europe. According to an
opinion piece written by Carter that ran in the New York Times last
week, the single greatest factor in prison population growth has been
the drug war.

The column noted that 11 percent of California's 2010 budget went to
prisons and only 7.5 percent to higher education. It's still
difficult, however, to find any kind of widespread support among
law-enforcement professionals for decriminalization. Part of the drug
problem is demand. Without users, sellers wouldn't have a market.

Another advantage to reopening debate on the issue is getting state
and federal governments in line. When Washington's Legislature passed
a bill legalizing medical marijuana dispensaries earlier this year,
Gov. Chris Gregoire refused to sign it, reminding advocates that the
federal government continues to regard marijuana as an illegal,
controlled substance.

Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul has spoken in favor of full
legalization, not just of marijuana but of cocaine, heroin,
methamphetamines, etc. The Global Commission did not endorse this
reckless approach and neither do we. After 40 years, however, it's
time for another look. The only certainty about the long-term war on
drugs is that we don't appear to be winning it.