Ineffective war on drugs

Los Angeles Times: The Obama administration is saying all the right things about the jumble of ineffective and vindictive laws, policies and practices that have made up this nation’s so-called war on drugs. Shortly after he was confirmed, Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. announced that he would halt Drug Enforcement Administration raids on medical marijuana dispensaries.

Then the Justice Department urged Congress to eliminate the 100-to-1 sentencing disparity in convictions for dealing crack and powder cocaine, which imposed long prison terms on predominantly black defendants.

Reassurance

The most recent reassurance comes from the new drug czar, R. Gil Kerlikowske. In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Kerlikowske said it’s time to retire the phrase “war on drugs.” Good. It’s as misguided as the policies it frames.

By thinking of drug users as combatants in a war, the nation militarized a health problem. The phrase itself shaped flawed thinking and yielded disastrous policies. When he campaigned for the presidency, Obama promised bold change on drugs. The old paradigm should follow the now-discarded phrase into history.