Last January I proclaimed in the The Hill’s Congress blog: “Marijuana law reform is no longer a political liability; it’s a political opportunity.” Ten months later it appears that an unprecedented number of state-elected officials are heeding the message. Here’s just a sample.

http://blog.norml.org/2009/11/20/marijuana-law-reform-is-a-political-opportunity-not-a-political-liability/

I remember when it came out betting a friend that Canada would change its drug laws within a year. It’s that kind of political acuity that makes me so grateful I still have readers. But, as Niels Bohr once observed, “Prediction is very difficult, especially about the future.”

Sigh. I hear you. My ex-school once asked for staff to volunteer to participate in an anti-drug program. I showed up for the first meeting and suggested that giving our students a realistic assessment of the relative dangers of different drugs, and explaining smarter (as opposed to dumber) ways of using drugs if they did make that choice. The head of the project made it clear that all drugs were absolutely evil, and there were going to be no shades of grey on this spectrum. I didn’t go the second meeting….

I do think that the Portuguese experience, (combined with the goad – or taser – of budgetary deficits) may push other countries towards decriminalization. Given the huge sums spent in the war on drugs, the final irony is the utter failure of the war to in fact reduce the availability of drugs. Supply/demand would drive up the price if less were available and drug prices for illegal drugs have remained remarkably constant over the last half century. Or anecdotally, while teaching in large urban high schools for 30+ years, I never heard anyone say they didn’t use drugs because they weren’t available.

Thanks again for the comments.

I had previously worked on a prototype, which included interviews with virtually everyone at my small university, and it turned out that a majority of not only students but also professors had inhaled and intended to do so again, and an even larger majority would do so were it not for the criminality thing. They were generally scared of needles and chemicals, but it was so clear that marijuana was less of a slippery slope than alcohol, and had less of a downside, that I awaited the publication of the results (for five years!) with bated breath …

Wikipedia concludes with stubby regret: “Although the report was widely praised for its thoroughness and thoughtfullness, its conclusions were largely ignored by the federal government.”

Efforts to get anti-drug innoculation programs based on propaganda garbage in defiance of the science out of our schools and appropriate Safety-First type programs to replace them have not gone very well locally. Thirty years of propagandist framing is tough to cut through.

I had the temerity to wind up on 60 Minutes. I studied ten years of OD deaths from my county and could not find a single example of a “heroin overdose.” What I found were multiple drug overdose deaths. Alcohol was the most frequently involved drug followed by heroin. I pointed this out on 60 Minutes.

All hell broke loose. A US Senator called my boss and suggested I be retired to a very remote location. The state Secretary of Health followed suit. Colleagues and friends told me someone from the US Attorney General’s office had visited them and suggested they cease collaborating with me. Newspaper articles appeared accusing me of every heinous action that can be imagined. Grant funding was cut off. I was called to a meeting with an emmisary from the drug czar’s office who ordered me to go on television saying that our then Governor (who I detested) was causing kids to use drugs by suggesting we discuss legalization. I refused.

Let me be clear. I am in favor of decriminalization of drug use combined with increased access to treatment and community development. I do not support outright legalizaton. I do not wish to have to combat a heroin lobby every time I make a request of Congress or my state legislature. The alcohol lobby is heinous enough. I want to see less drug marketing, not more.

In the end, the war on state governments has trumped the war on drugs. By passing various anti-tax laws and referenda, Grover Norquist and company have forced states to choose between schools and jails. In many states, schools are the winner of the popularity contest. California is releasing inmates in order to save the jobs of teachers and nurses.

The war on drugs has busted state and county budgets, mandating stiff sentences for relatively minor non-violent crime. Today, most of our prisoners are either suffering from mental illness, substance abuse or developmental disabilities. The high cost of incarceration prevents us from investing in schools, health care and treatment.

I know. I work for local government.