A drug warrior goes soft

[babylonsister]

http://www.economist.com/blogs/democracyinamerica/2009/07/a_drug_warrior_goes_soft.cfm

A drug warrior goes soft

Posted by:
Economist.com l WASHINGTON


AFTER 11 years, Washington may slowly be getting out from under the yoke of the "Barr Amendment", an act of Congress that stopped the city from decriminalising medical marijuana. It was introduced all those years ago by Bob Barr, a Republican member of Congress. Now its demise is being welcomed by... Bob Barr.

While I in fact sponsored the initial appropriations limitation in 1998, the years since then have witnessed such a dramatic increase in federal government power and an unprecedented decrease in individual liberty, especially since 2001, that I have come to realize that such limitations as the so-called “Barr Amendment” are not and cannot be justified.

Mr Barr dodges the debate over full legalisation by focusing on issues of federal power. But an article in the New York Times last week reheated the larger debate. The report chronicled the increased potency of today's marijuana and the battle with addiction faced by some Americans. It is a reminder that we're not talking about harmless stuff here, no matter what Harold and Kumar might lead you to believe. At the same time, though, if marijuana was legal the government could regulate its potency and make it less harmful.

These are issues worth discussing in the same way we discuss the regulation of tobacco and alcohol. Unfortunately, our politicians don't feel free to do so. At a town hall earlier this year the president blithely dismissed decriminalisation as a way to boost the economy. The audience had a good chuckle. But it's little wonder that we're now seeing law enforcement back off efforts to stop Americans from smoking, growing or buying marijuana. That was the type of thing a government could afford during boom times, but not so much in an economic slump. California is expanding its medical marijuana programme as the state scrapes for more revenue. Prisons are strapped, so there's no appetite for turning minor drug offenders into wards of the state. It would be surprising if more localities and states don't lose their appetite for the drug war for at least a little while.

A responsible government would see what comes of this experiment in partial decriminalisation and evaluate its economic and public-health results. Of course, before that happens, politicians need to be able to talk about marijuana in an open and honest way. That even Mr Barr seems wary of tackling the propriety of using the drug is a sign that we are still a ways away from that happening.

[mdmc]

1. Gearing up for a 2012 run perhaps?

Can't beat R.Paul and Jessie the Body being a big government drug warrior

[MADem]

2. He left the GOP and became a libertarian.....

That would marry more with the ideals of his new political home....

http://www.bobbarr2008.com/

[Orsino]

5. Not quite, if he's still dodging the question of legalization.

But perhaps it's just been a long time since he was given campaign funds by beneficiaries of the war on drugs?

[Mythsaje]

3. Of course they're full of shit...

We all know potency isn't really all that much higher than it ever was.

[Uncle Joe]

4. This is long past due and political leaders need to talk about

legalization as a sane, logical alternative to the insanity of the past few decades.

Quit screwing the American People over, this should be an educational, medical and or personal privacy issue , not a criminal one, which only serves to feed for profit prisons with our world record breaking number of prisoners here in the "land of the free".

Furthermore it's not just those prisoners; their families gave been greatly damaged by this asisine policy of waging war against the Peoples' Privacy.