When it comes to addressing America's disastrous war on drugs, the Obama administration appears to be moving in the right direction -- albeit very, very cautiously.
On the rhetorical front, all the president's men are saying the right things.
In his first interview since being confirmed, Obama's new drug czar, Gil Kerlikowske, said that we need to stop looking at our drug problem as a war. "Regardless of how you try to explain to people it's a 'war on drugs" or a 'war on product,'" he told the Wall Street Journal, "people see war as a war on them. We're not at war with people in this country."
He also said that it was time to focus more on treatment and less on incarceration.
Earlier this year, Attorney General Eric Holder announced that the federal government would no longer raid and prosecute distributors of medical marijuana who operate in accordance with state law in the 13 states where voters have made it legal.
Holder has also said that his department intends to eliminate the outrageous and prejudicial sentencing disparity between crack and powder cocaine.
And while on the campaign trail, President Obama called for repealing the ban on federal funding for anti-AIDS programs that supply clean needles to drug users.
All positive signs that we are ready to move beyond our failed war on drugs.
But when it comes to putting its rhetoric into action, the Obama administration has faltered.
Just a week after the Attorney General said there would be no more medical marijuana raids, the DEA raided a licensed medical marijuana dispensary in California.
Obama's '09-'10 budget proposes to continue the longstanding ban on federal funding of needle exchange programs.
The current budget is still overwhelmingly skewed in favor of the drug war approach -- indeed, it allocates more to drug enforcement and less to prevention than even George Bush did.
Testifying today in front of the House Judiciary Committee, Holder, in his opening statement, called for a working group to examine federal cocaine sentencing policy: "Based on that review, we will determine what sentencing reforms are appropriate, including making recommendations to Congress on changes to crack and powder cocaine sentencing policy." A working group? Why? As a senator, Obama co-sponsored legislation (introduced by Joe Biden) to end the disparity. What further review is needed?
(To be fair, during questioning, Holder said he and the president both favored doing away with the crack/powder disparity and said that Justice would even consider doing away with mandatory minimums altogether. But why the initial equivocation and the use of the very familiar needs-further-review dodge?)
So the question becomes: is the Obama administration really committed to a fundamental shift in America's approach to drug policy or is this about serving up a kinder, gentler drug war?
And this at a time when the tide is clearly turning. Inspired by the massive budget crises facing many states, and the increase in drug violence both at home and abroad -- leaders on all points across the political spectrum appear more willing to rethink our ruinous drug policies.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has called for "an open debate" and careful study of proposals to legalize, regulate, and tax marijuana. Former Mexican President Vicente Fox has also urged renewing the debate, saying that he isn't convinced taxing and regulating drugs is the answer but "why not discuss it?" Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard, pointing to evidence that Mexican drug cartels draw 60 to 80 percent of their revenue from pot, suggested legalization might be an effective tool to combat Mexican drug traffickers and American gangs.
And, in a major shift in the global drug policy debate, a Latin American commission, headed by the former presidents Fernando Cardoso of Brazil, Ernesto Zedillo of Mexico, and Cesar Gavaria of Colombia issued a devastating report condemning America's 40-year war on drugs.
"Prohibitionist policies based on eradication, interdiction and criminalization of consumption simply haven't worked," the former presidents wrote in a joint op-ed. "The revision of U.S.-inspired drug policies is urgent in light of the rising levels of violence and corruption associated with narcotics. The alarming power of the drug cartels is leading to a criminalization of politics and a politicization of crime."
They called for "a paradigm shift in drug policies" that begins with "changing the status of addicts from drug buyers in the illegal market to patients cared for by the public health system."
And in Congress, Sen. Jim Webb has introduced legislation, with co-sponsors from both sides of the aisle, to create a blue-ribbon commission to examine criminal justice and drug policies and how they have led to our nation's jam-packed jails -- now filled with tens of thousands of nonviolent drug offenders.
"With so many of our citizens in prison compared with the rest of the world," Webb wrote in a recent Parade cover story, "there are only two possibilities: Either we are home to the most evil people on earth or we are doing something different--and vastly counterproductive. Obviously, the answer is the latter."
I understand that drugs continue to be a political hot potato, fueled by what the Latin American presidents described as "prejudices and fears that sometimes bear little relation to reality." And I can easily picture some on the president's team advising him to keep the issue on the backburner lest it turn into his "Don't Ask, Don't Tell."
But the cost of the drug war -- both human and financial -- is far too high to allow politics to dictate the administration's actions. Indeed, with all the budget cutting going on, how can anyone justify spending tens of billions of dollars a year on an unwinnable war against our own people?
Change won't be easy. The prison-industrial complex has a deeply vested interest in maintaining the status quo. Which is why we need to keep the pressure on the president and his team to follow through on their drug policy promises.
As with the regulation of Wall Street, real reform of our nation's drugs policies won't happen without someone in the administration making it a top priority.
The jury is still out on Kerlikowske. His law enforcement background could make him the drug war equivalent of Tim Geithner -- too enmeshed in the system he is tasked with overhauling.
Holder shows more promise. But he'll have to avoid the let's-have-a-working-group-review-decisions-that-have-already-been-decided approach.
As a reminder, I'm planning to send the Attorney General a few copies of This Is Your Country On Drugs, a book out next month on the history of drug use and drug policy in America by our HuffPost Congressional correspondent Ryan Grim. In it, he argues that the goal of U.S. policy should not be to eliminate drugs, but to prevent and treat the addiction and other problems that come with them: "As currently understood and implemented, drug policy attempts to isolate a phenomenon that can't be taken in isolation. Economic policy is drug policy. Healthcare policy is drug policy. Foreign policy, too, is drug policy. When approached in isolation, drug policy almost always leads to unfortunate and unintended consequences."
With three-quarters of the drug offenders clogging our state prisons there for nonviolent offenses -- and a disproportionate number of those young men of color -- the time has come to wage a full-scale war on the war on drugs.
Follow Arianna Huffington on Twitter: www.twitter.com/ariannahuff
Loading comments… 
"They called for 'a paradigm shift in drug policies' that begins with 'changing the status of addicts from drug buyers in the illegal market to patients cared for by the public health system."
It's the only rational way. In fact alcohol should be dispensed that way to alcoholics
I read a while back about an idea in trying to address the heroin problem. Why not have our government buy up all the poppy fields from farmers in say, Afghanista
A considerab
Hey, President Barack Obama! End the mother freaking War on Drugs! In particular
These old partiers would know (Note: I AM, however, also an 'Old Partier'!!
Everyone join LEAP.org now - ya' hear?!?
We have to put progressiv
It sounds like Ryan Grim thinks holistical
Great story.
Drug use needs to be a medical issue handled by the government to take the profits from the dangerous and violent cartels--p
Medical marijuana is helpful to many ill people--th
It makes me wonder if Big Pharma indeed has a hand in this somewhere.
Should we use your "confiscat
Since 85 percent of all drug use is marijuana consumptio
Also, by your logic, since alcohol and tobacco ARE addictive, why aren't you advocating throwing everyone who drinks or smokes cigarettes in jail? It would be GOOD for them, right?
Follow the money.The legal drug and alcohol business would stand to lose if drugs and especially marijuana were legalized.
It's a potent feel-good FANTASY that drug treatment works to any significan
Tor most drug dealers and users, only jail/priso
My friend spent over a decade as a homeless, injecting addict in the treatment rather than jail oriented state we lived in. He went through innumerabl
However several years ago he heard that Michigan is a law-and-or
It worked: He's been steadily employed, housed, and free of serious addiction problems ever since. His drug of choice is not commonly available, so he isn't tempted on every street corner. Fear of Michigan's lock-em-up policies provides another effective deterrent.
The ending of the 'war on drugs,' will prove disastrous for many Americans, doing a disservice to us all and destroying the lives of many who could otherwise be saved.
The crime rate has fallen in proportion to the increase in the population held in jails. Apparently
The druggies who live in my neighborho
I'd like to see non-violen
there is rarely any distinctio
Prohibitio
even for those who have always been gainfully employed, highly educated, responsibl
citizens who have always been productive members of society.
Many of these same people do not drink alcohol or go out on wild crazy drug binges
as the government would like to have you believe.
To most, it's more like a nightcap after a long stressful day.
The fear campaign that continues always resorts to the extreme where their
example is clearly out of control, hell bent on getting as messed up as humanly possible.
We all know those people and they do need help.
Contrary to everything they are trying to tell you, marijuana is NOT addictive.
You may like having it around, but you can easily walk away from it at any time.
The worst DRUG I have ever encountere
I rarely drink alcohol in any form. I'd rather drink iced tea or coffee. My other weakness.
I'm glad I have the experience and wisdom to direct my children so that they know
what will harm them and what will not.
A higher percentage of liberals favor legalizati
The Santa Monica court system, by the virtue of one very far sighted judge, back in the mid '90s had a diversion option for those charged with misdemeano
As for the borders, not all drugs are even smuggled into the country. Also, if all the cocaine and heroin were blocked form coming into the country, the drug dealers would just replace the heroin with synthetic narcotics like fentanyl, and the cocaine users would have to switch to amphetamin
As for marijuana, it is already being grown within the USA, anyway. Thus, blocking outside supplies with out addressing the internal demand will NOT WORK.