LET'S ELIMINATE THE FAILING WAR ON DRUGS

Out of all the thousands of words available to the American policy
maker, the one most difficult to utter, even in private, is the word
failure. Much in the same a way a broken 2x4 hits the gut, the word
just cannot grab hold of the surrounding air and make its way from
the mouths of our elected officials.

But, alas, without even much provocation, the Bush Administration has
done just that.

By proposing a series of cuts to the grossly ineffective and asinine
drug programs, our leaders are finally getting the hint: The war on
drugs has been a complete and abysmal failure. However, it didn't
take a mountain of evidence, criminally, socially nor judicially, to
make a case strong enough to warrant the cutbacks. Instead, it took
the mother of all hurricanes to stir the fiscal pot. Hurricane
Katrina, followed closely by Rita, gave immediate rise to
fund-raising awareness. And what better way to fund disaster relief
than to kill all of those failed drug war programs that did nothing
more than incarcerate generations of minority youth and petty users.
But, at least the proposal makes sense to just about everyone.

The fiscal responsibility, which most taxpayers and Republicans can
agree, is one of the most efficient ways to stay afloat in these
fluctuating economical times.

The social responsibility, which the Democrats would love to promote
as their own, is the most civic option available.

Think about this: By eliminating such programs as the Anti-Drug
Campaign, the federal government gets to save nearly $120 million
dollars per year.

By eliminating state grants for the Drug-Free Schools program, the
government saves a whopping $438 million dollars. And by eliminating
the disgraceful and highly embarrassing Byrne Justice Assistance
Grants program, we, the ever-gracious taxpaying public get to help
our government save nearly $800 million dollars per year.

Finally our officials are taking heed to the chorus calls that demand
effective action. There should not have been such a long delay.
Katrina's victims deserve accommodation. Those incarcerated for petty
drug crimes deserve a lesser, more humane sentence.

And those who have been caught up in the war on drugs, whether
through racial profiling or negligence, deserve effective drug
treatment and restitution.

Money has always been the key to motivating a displaced public. But,
now that it no longer makes any fiscal sense to continue these
programs, let's do the right thing, the civic thing, and finally lay
the war on drugs to rest.