The War on Pot Is an Abject Failure ... Now's the Time for a New Approach

By Jag Davies, AlterNet. Posted April 22, 2009.

The Time Is Now 

The work of the Global Cannabis Commission is a compelling resource for the development of evidence-based cannabis policies and provides a model for reformers and policymakers to challenge the basic premises of marijuana prohibition. 

Today's drug chaos is the inevitable result of prohibition. Cannabis has been easily produced around the world for thousands of years, making its eradication effectively impossible. Prohibition entails the opposite of drug control by completely abdicating regulation to the black market -- as the Commission puts it, "That which is prohibited cannot be easily regulated."  

The tobacco example underscores the fact that drug regulation is not a step into the unknown -- we have centuries of experience in legally regulating thousands of different drugs. In fact, tobacco use has declined dramatically in the U.S. over the past generation without using the criminal justice system to punish tobacco users. 

If ever there were a time for political leaders, in the U.S. and abroad, to engage in an honest and open review of cannabis prohibition, it is now. In one of this year's most promising developments, U.S. Senators Jim Webb (D-VA) and Arlen Specter (R-PA) have introduced a bill to create a commission that would undertake an 18-month study of the criminal justice system and make legislative recommendations -- and an overhaul of cannabis laws will be on the table. Meanwhile, in Mexico, growing appetite for reform prompted the Mexican Congress to convene a three-day debate on the decriminalization and regulation of cannabis earlier this month. 

In contrast, President Obama appears a little caught off-guard by the public's appetite for marijuana reform. When recently forced to address the subject of marijuana legalization, he laughed it off but curiously offered no arguments to defend his position.  

Let's make sure our policy makers know that they can no longer evade the basic truth that the prohibition of cannabis causes more harm than the plant itself -- and that any marijuana “control” policy that intends to protect children, families, and communities must include sensible regulation.  

See more stories tagged with: marijuana prohibition

Jag Davies is U.S. public policy coordinator at theBeckley Foundation.

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