Federalist Solution On Drugs
Has the time come for the federal government to cede the "war on drugs" to America's state and local governments?
A powerful case for devolving critical drug policy -- choices of which substances to forbid, whether to focus police on drug cases, imprisoning versus treating offenders -- has been made by two Florida State University economists, David Rasmussen and Bruce Benson.
Of course it's hard to imagine rational debate about drug policy as long as President Bush and his ideologically driven attorney general, John Ashcroft, are in office. Even the never-inhaling Clinton administration sat quietly as both federal and state incarcerations for drug offenses skyrocketed.
But the common-sense case for fresh thinking has become overwhelming. Largely because of drug cases, the United States, with 2,071,686 people behind bars, had the world's highest incarceration rate in 2000. It cost the country $26 billion that year to imprison 1.3 million nonviolent offenders -- including hundreds of thousands of drug offenders.
Rigid prohibition remains federal policy even as substantial experiments in decoupling hard and soft drugs, especially decriminalizing possession of small amounts of marijuana, are spreading in Europe and Canada. Ashcroft is even cracking down hard on California co-ops that administer marijuana to relieve the acute pain of terminally ill persons -- a policy specifically approved by California voters in a 1996 referendum.
But it's not just authoritarian or moralistic ideology that drives harsh drug policy. Our political system continues to condone stiff penalties, long sentences -- even though there's ample evidence that treatment of addiction, dollar for dollar, is far more effective. Indeed, a much-cited RAND study which focused on cocaine use concluded that an added dollar on drug treatment is seven times more cost-effective than a dollar more for drug enforcement.
From 1968 to 1998, drug arrests per capita rose from 26 per 100,000 population to 615 per 100,000. Yet illicit drug use is still flourishing. Why aren't we objecting?
Most blame is usually thrown at politically opportunistic legislators. But legislators, argue Rasmussen and Benson in a law review article, respond largely to interest groups. And there's a massive lobby out there pushing the drug war -- the police chiefs, sheriffs, prosecutors and their allies in federal enforcement bureaus.
Indeed, goes this argument, bureaucrats instinctively fight to expand their funds and turf, using direct lobbying, policy manipulation and selective release of information and misinformation. Back in 1937, enforcement agencies pushed for the Marijuana Tax Act, which proved pivotal in the criminalization of marijuana. The federal Bureau of Narcotics fed the "reefer madness" of the time, claiming -- contrary to scientific fact -- that marijuana causes insanity, rape, delirious rages and violent crimes.
More recently, police departments have tended to blame most local crime on drug use, thus expanding their budgets as well as encouraging legislators to pass increasingly strict sentencing for drug offenders. Which of course keeps the prosecutors busy and pleases yet another lobby -- contractors who build prisons.
On top of that, police and sheriffs' groups lobbied successfully to let their departments retain proceeds from the sale of assets confiscated in drug raids. Result: they profit directly from drug busts, a practice raising serious ethical and constitutional questions.
The net result, argue Rasmussen and Benson, is "a tragedy in the criminal justice commons," as drug enforcement dominates budgets, making funds scarce for such unfolding needs as community policing and homeland security.
Plus, drug operations expose police departments to corruption -- the peril of officers going bad, even lining up with one group of drug dealers against another, as they deal in a world awash with literally millions of illegal dollars.
So how do we think afresh about the drug issue? Only, the Florida State authors argue, by decentralizing drug policy. They would leave the federal government to deal with such issues as interstate drug shipments but revoke national rules (like blanket prohibition of marijuana) and hold state legislatures, agencies and bureaucrats more directly responsible for the costs and results -- positive or negative -- of their policies.
Would such a move lead to wholesale liberalization of drug laws? Probably no time soon, in most states. The same law enforcement bureaucracies would almost surely fight change.
With a loosening of the federal hand, at least we could have debate about new research in physiological effects of various drugs, consequences of less regulation and dramatic treatment alternatives. States could compare notes, be "laboratories of democracy." Less Washington dictation plus more local autonomy equals federalism at work. What's not to like about that?
Neal Peirce is a syndicated columnist. Write him c/o Washington Post Writers Group, 1150 15th St. NW, Washington, DC 20071
Note: Economists suggest letting states decide their own drug policy.
The Marihuana Tax Act of 1937
Federalist Solution On Drugs
Source: Charlotte Observer (NC)
Author: Neal Peirce, Washington Post Writers Group
Published: Saturday, September 27, 2003
Contact: pinion@charlotteobserver.com"> opinion@charlotteobserver.com * Website
Related Articles
Growing Prison Population is Growing Problem
RAND: Marijuana No Gateway To Cocaine and Heroin
[color=green]Most blame is usually thrown at politically opportunistic legislators.
But legislators respond largely to interest groups.
And there's a massive lobby out there pushing the drug war --
the police chiefs, sheriffs, prosecutors and their allies in federal enforcement bureaus.[/color]
Ashcroft Limits Prosecutor Discretion
Law Enforcement Shares the Wealth in War on Drugs
Has the Drug War Created an Officer Liar's Club?
Cops on the Dole
America's Plague of Bad Cops
Cop's View of the Drug War
End the War by Anthony Lewis
"All propaganda must be so popular and on such an intellectual level,
that even the most stupid of those towards whom it is directed will understand it.
Therefore, the intellectual level of the propaganda must be lower
the larger the number of people who are to be influenced by it."
Bennito Mussolini
Just Say NO! Nancy Rayguns
Even the never-inhaling Clinton administration sat quietly
as both federal and state incarcerations for drug offenses skyrocketed.
Insanity * Shalalagans * Flout * Thwart
Ganja/hemp lnfolinx * Hemp vs Cotton
Marijuana Myths, Marijuana Facts
UNRAVELING AN AMERICAN DILEMMA: THE DEMONIZATION OF MARIHUANA
Since the dawn of civilization, people have cultivated the plant known scientifically as cannabis and agriculturally as hemp for its fiber, seed, and pharmaceutical properties. Throughout the world, the records of archaeology and history reveal that humanity universally recognized the benefits of this unique plant. Such recognition ended abruptly in 1930, when the newly created Federal Bureau of Narcotics began to educate the American public about marihuana, as hemp had been known colloquially in the Sonoran region of Mexico.
Between 1930 and 1934, the Bureau compiled a body of misinformation which suggested that the use of marihuana was directly linked to crime, induced violent behavior, and caused insanity. Then, suddenly, in 1935, the Bureau flooded the nation with educational propaganda against marihuana use. During this act of demonization, the Bureau continuously cited its own accumulated body of misinformation as a precedent for legislation on the federal level. Through this studied deception, the Bureau effectively lobbied for the passage of the Marihuana Tax Act of 1937, which considerably restricted the usage, distribution, and production of marihuana. Significantly, restrictions on marihuana automatically implied restrictions on the cultivation of hemp.
The Ultimate Hypocrasy
"Justice" Thomas, Who Smoked Marijuana At Yale Law School,
Writes Supreme Court Opinion Against Medical Cannabis. Persecuting the Sick and Dying.
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marihemp.com/boards.../4/4376.gif
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Waldo's Insolence
Dr. Heath/Tulane Study, 1974
The Hype: Brain Damage and Dead Monkeys
William Randolph Hearst and Reefer Madness
PREJUDICE: MARIJUANA AND JIM CROW LAWS
[color=green]Common-sense case for fresh thinking has become overwhelming. Largely because of drug cases, the United States, with 2,071,686 people behind bars, had the world's highest incarceration rate in 2000. It cost the country $26 billion that year to imprison 1.3 million nonviolent offenders -- including hundreds of thousands of drug offenders.[/color]
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Conditions of Confinement
Human Rights Watch has documented abominable conditions for children in detention in countries around the world. In the United States (Colorado, Georgia, Louisiana, and Maryland), Pakistan, Jamaica, among other countries, children are subjected to excessive force, inadequate medical and mental health care, and are provided with little or no education. Often, these children are placed in the facilities along side adults, exposing them to physical and sexual abuse.
Close to Home: Juveniles in Adult Jails Op-Ed by Michael Bochenek
Correctional Systems, Inc. (CSI) is a publicly-traded corporation
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In 2000, there were 1,579,566 drug arrests in the US. Of those, 46.5 percent --
734,497 arrests -- were for marijuana.
There were 646,042 arrests for simple possession of marijuana in 2000.
drugwarfacts.org
Cannabis Hemp: The Invisible Prohibition Revealed
"Certain American industrialists had a great deal to do with bringing fascist regimes into being in both Germany and Italy. They extended aid to help Fascism occupy the seat of power, and they are helping to keep it there." - William E. Dodd, U.S. Ambassador to Germany, 1937. Continued...sumeria.net/politics/invpro.html
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Reefer Madness * Marihauna! * Seduction of the Innocent
About John Walters
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Testimony Before the Senate Judiciary Committee
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Czarpimp
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Has the time come for the federal government to cede the "war on drugs" to America's state and local governments?
A powerful case for devolving critical drug policy -- choices of which substances to forbid, whether to focus police on drug cases, imprisoning versus treating offenders -- has been made by two Florida State University economists, David Rasmussen and Bruce Benson.
Of course it's hard to imagine rational debate about drug policy as long as President Bush and his ideologically driven attorney general, John Ashcroft, are in office. Even the never-inhaling Clinton administration sat quietly as both federal and state incarcerations for drug offenses skyrocketed.
But the common-sense case for fresh thinking has become overwhelming. Largely because of drug cases, the United States, with 2,071,686 people behind bars, had the world's highest incarceration rate in 2000. It cost the country $26 billion that year to imprison 1.3 million nonviolent offenders -- including hundreds of thousands of drug offenders.
Rigid prohibition remains federal policy even as substantial experiments in decoupling hard and soft drugs, especially decriminalizing possession of small amounts of marijuana, are spreading in Europe and Canada. Ashcroft is even cracking down hard on California co-ops that administer marijuana to relieve the acute pain of terminally ill persons -- a policy specifically approved by California voters in a 1996 referendum.
But it's not just authoritarian or moralistic ideology that drives harsh drug policy. Our political system continues to condone stiff penalties, long sentences -- even though there's ample evidence that treatment of addiction, dollar for dollar, is far more effective. Indeed, a much-cited RAND study which focused on cocaine use concluded that an added dollar on drug treatment is seven times more cost-effective than a dollar more for drug enforcement.
From 1968 to 1998, drug arrests per capita rose from 26 per 100,000 population to 615 per 100,000. Yet illicit drug use is still flourishing. Why aren't we objecting?
Most blame is usually thrown at politically opportunistic legislators. But legislators, argue Rasmussen and Benson in a law review article, respond largely to interest groups. And there's a massive lobby out there pushing the drug war -- the police chiefs, sheriffs, prosecutors and their allies in federal enforcement bureaus.
Indeed, goes this argument, bureaucrats instinctively fight to expand their funds and turf, using direct lobbying, policy manipulation and selective release of information and misinformation. Back in 1937, enforcement agencies pushed for the Marijuana Tax Act, which proved pivotal in the criminalization of marijuana. The federal Bureau of Narcotics fed the "reefer madness" of the time, claiming -- contrary to scientific fact -- that marijuana causes insanity, rape, delirious rages and violent crimes.
More recently, police departments have tended to blame most local crime on drug use, thus expanding their budgets as well as encouraging legislators to pass increasingly strict sentencing for drug offenders. Which of course keeps the prosecutors busy and pleases yet another lobby -- contractors who build prisons.
On top of that, police and sheriffs' groups lobbied successfully to let their departments retain proceeds from the sale of assets confiscated in drug raids. Result: they profit directly from drug busts, a practice raising serious ethical and constitutional questions.
The net result, argue Rasmussen and Benson, is "a tragedy in the criminal justice commons," as drug enforcement dominates budgets, making funds scarce for such unfolding needs as community policing and homeland security.
Plus, drug operations expose police departments to corruption -- the peril of officers going bad, even lining up with one group of drug dealers against another, as they deal in a world awash with literally millions of illegal dollars.
So how do we think afresh about the drug issue? Only, the Florida State authors argue, by decentralizing drug policy. They would leave the federal government to deal with such issues as interstate drug shipments but revoke national rules (like blanket prohibition of marijuana) and hold state legislatures, agencies and bureaucrats more directly responsible for the costs and results -- positive or negative -- of their policies.
Would such a move lead to wholesale liberalization of drug laws? Probably no time soon, in most states. The same law enforcement bureaucracies would almost surely fight change.
With a loosening of the federal hand, at least we could have debate about new research in physiological effects of various drugs, consequences of less regulation and dramatic treatment alternatives. States could compare notes, be "laboratories of democracy." Less Washington dictation plus more local autonomy equals federalism at work. What's not to like about that?
Neal Peirce is a syndicated columnist. Write him c/o Washington Post Writers Group, 1150 15th St. NW, Washington, DC 20071
Note: Economists suggest letting states decide their own drug policy.
The Marihuana Tax Act of 1937
Federalist Solution On Drugs
Source: Charlotte Observer (NC)
Author: Neal Peirce, Washington Post Writers Group
Published: Saturday, September 27, 2003
Contact: pinion@charlotteobserver.com"> opinion@charlotteobserver.com * Website
Related Articles
Growing Prison Population is Growing Problem
RAND: Marijuana No Gateway To Cocaine and Heroin
[color=green]Most blame is usually thrown at politically opportunistic legislators.
But legislators respond largely to interest groups.
And there's a massive lobby out there pushing the drug war --
the police chiefs, sheriffs, prosecutors and their allies in federal enforcement bureaus.[/color]
Ashcroft Limits Prosecutor Discretion
Law Enforcement Shares the Wealth in War on Drugs
Has the Drug War Created an Officer Liar's Club?
Cops on the Dole
America's Plague of Bad Cops
Cop's View of the Drug War
End the War by Anthony Lewis
"All propaganda must be so popular and on such an intellectual level,
that even the most stupid of those towards whom it is directed will understand it.
Therefore, the intellectual level of the propaganda must be lower
the larger the number of people who are to be influenced by it."
Bennito Mussolini
Just Say NO! Nancy Rayguns
Even the never-inhaling Clinton administration sat quietly
as both federal and state incarcerations for drug offenses skyrocketed.
Insanity * Shalalagans * Flout * Thwart
Ganja/hemp lnfolinx * Hemp vs Cotton
Marijuana Myths, Marijuana Facts
UNRAVELING AN AMERICAN DILEMMA: THE DEMONIZATION OF MARIHUANA
Since the dawn of civilization, people have cultivated the plant known scientifically as cannabis and agriculturally as hemp for its fiber, seed, and pharmaceutical properties. Throughout the world, the records of archaeology and history reveal that humanity universally recognized the benefits of this unique plant. Such recognition ended abruptly in 1930, when the newly created Federal Bureau of Narcotics began to educate the American public about marihuana, as hemp had been known colloquially in the Sonoran region of Mexico.
Between 1930 and 1934, the Bureau compiled a body of misinformation which suggested that the use of marihuana was directly linked to crime, induced violent behavior, and caused insanity. Then, suddenly, in 1935, the Bureau flooded the nation with educational propaganda against marihuana use. During this act of demonization, the Bureau continuously cited its own accumulated body of misinformation as a precedent for legislation on the federal level. Through this studied deception, the Bureau effectively lobbied for the passage of the Marihuana Tax Act of 1937, which considerably restricted the usage, distribution, and production of marihuana. Significantly, restrictions on marihuana automatically implied restrictions on the cultivation of hemp.
The Ultimate Hypocrasy
"Justice" Thomas, Who Smoked Marijuana At Yale Law School,
Writes Supreme Court Opinion Against Medical Cannabis. Persecuting the Sick and Dying.
Monsanto's Cliarence
marihemp.com/boards.../4/4376.gif
HEMP POLITICAL MATTERS ROOM
drugwarfacts.org
drug czarist truths deception is no way to win a drugwar
Bill Would Outlaw Internet Drug Information
Drug Czar Manipulating Data in a Report to Congress
Waldo's Insolence
Dr. Heath/Tulane Study, 1974
The Hype: Brain Damage and Dead Monkeys
William Randolph Hearst and Reefer Madness
PREJUDICE: MARIJUANA AND JIM CROW LAWS
[color=green]Common-sense case for fresh thinking has become overwhelming. Largely because of drug cases, the United States, with 2,071,686 people behind bars, had the world's highest incarceration rate in 2000. It cost the country $26 billion that year to imprison 1.3 million nonviolent offenders -- including hundreds of thousands of drug offenders.[/color]
Slave Labor Means Big Bucks For U.S. Corporations
UNICORE
'Relax Your Muscles as Much as Possible'
"Stop Prisoner Rape" * Juvenile Justice * Child Labor
Conditions of Confinement
Human Rights Watch has documented abominable conditions for children in detention in countries around the world. In the United States (Colorado, Georgia, Louisiana, and Maryland), Pakistan, Jamaica, among other countries, children are subjected to excessive force, inadequate medical and mental health care, and are provided with little or no education. Often, these children are placed in the facilities along side adults, exposing them to physical and sexual abuse.
Close to Home: Juveniles in Adult Jails Op-Ed by Michael Bochenek
Correctional Systems, Inc. (CSI) is a publicly-traded corporation
that contracts with governmental agencies to operate correctional projects.
(FAMM Foundation) * Drug Sense * M.A.M.A. * F.E.A.R.
November Coalition * Human Rights and the WoD
The Real Price of Prisons * MAKING THE WALLS TRANSPARENT
I lost my freedom and can't find it anywhere! Linx
The Joseph McNamara Collection
In 2000, there were 1,579,566 drug arrests in the US. Of those, 46.5 percent --
734,497 arrests -- were for marijuana.
There were 646,042 arrests for simple possession of marijuana in 2000.
drugwarfacts.org
Cannabis Hemp: The Invisible Prohibition Revealed
"Certain American industrialists had a great deal to do with bringing fascist regimes into being in both Germany and Italy. They extended aid to help Fascism occupy the seat of power, and they are helping to keep it there." - William E. Dodd, U.S. Ambassador to Germany, 1937. Continued...sumeria.net/politics/invpro.html
Shadow of the Swastika * STATE OF THE UNION: CORRUPT
The Ganjawar is a Product Sold by D.E.A.th to Profit Fascist ... DdC
Reefer Madness * Marihauna! * Seduction of the Innocent
About John Walters
Urban Myths
The Report on John Walters
Testimony Before the Senate Judiciary Committee
Drug Czar Accused of Supporting Terror
Czarpimp
walters terrorist lp
(NORML) * Freedom to Exhale * Americans For Safe Access * Green-Aid.com
