Americans Can't Allow McCain to Continue Bush's Failed Policies in the "War on Drugs"

One of the reasons John McCain says he is touring Colombia and Mexico this week is to underscore the importance of the "War on Drugs." Just as McCain wants to continue Bush's failed policies in the "War on Terror," he wants to continue Bush's failed policies in the "War on Drugs" as well.

Though the failures of the "War on Drugs" are more silent and insidious than his dramatic failures in the Middle East, the two have much in common. Both have involved an over-reliance on, and often reckless use of, military force to solve problems for which military power is not appropriate. And both result in massive diversions of attention and energy from the real source of a problem into "crusades" that actually made matters worse.

Of course the central fallacy of the "War on Drugs" is that drug addiction is not essentially a military or law enforcement problem. It is a medical problem. Today America spends billions of dollars on enforcement, interdiction, eradication and the incarceration of those who sell and use drugs. Yet at the same time there are long waiting lists to get into serious drug rehab programs.

We've known for years that by far the most cost effective way of cutting drug use is through treatment and education. A recent study by the Justice Policy Institute found that investments in drug treatment and education are 10 to 15 times more effective at cutting drug use than the same amount spent on law enforcement aimed at drugs.

In the mid 1990's the RAND Corporation did a study that found that to get a one-percent reduction in cocaine use it would cost $2,062,000,000 in "Source-Country Control" -- eradication programs like those McCain went to Colombia to laud this week. The study found you could get the same reduction in cocaine use for only $155,000,000 spent on education and treatment. Yet the federal "drug war budget" allocates five times more on enforcement than on treatment -- and that doesn't even count most of the military action in Colombia.

In the early years of the Bush presidency I traveled to Colombia with my wife, Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky, and several other Members of Congress. We accompanied the Ambassador and some of her staff on a trip to Putumayo, the center of cocaine cultivation in Colombia, to meet with a large group of campesinos from the surrounding area. The night before we left Bogata for Putumayo, a delegation of Governors from southern Colombia met with us to beg the Members of Congress to stop the fumigation program that the United States was financing in an attempt to kill coca plants.

That was not the Bush plan. On the way to the meeting I sat next to the embassy "fumigation czar." He explained that while fumigation activities had been restricted under Clinton, under Bush they were free to fumigate as much acreage as as they pleased.

The stupidity of the fumigation policy became clear when we met with hundreds of local people who had assembled in a community center in Putumayo. We heard story after story of legitimate crops being killed by indiscriminate aerial fumigation. We talked to dozens of farmers who said they grew coca because it was the only way to make any money. We talked to many local people who told us that if the crops were fumigated, they would simply move further into the jungle and tear down more rainforest.

The results are in. Last week a United Nations study revealed that coca cultivation in Colombia is at an all-time high. Last year alone, Colombian peasants devoted 27% more land to growing coca than last year. The study found that this occurred despite "record" US-backed eradication efforts. Cultivation had simply shifted to smaller, less productive spots in more remote areas. Coca farmers were "aggressively" tearing down rainforest to make way for crops and laboratories. In addition, production had shifted from Colombia to Bolivia, Ecuador and Peru.

In other words, all those billions for Colombian drug eradication, that McCain would continue to spend, have meant nothing when it comes to reducing the consumption of drugs on the streets and in the high schools of America.

Of course the Bush-McCain strategy in the "War on Drugs" has many other victims. Quite apart from the millions of Americans who go without treatment, there are hundreds of thousands more who are locked up for their drug use. An example: fifty-two percent of those incarcerated in Illinois prisons for drug offenses are there for "possession." That's kind of like the Medieval practice of burning people at the stake because they were mentally ill and possessed by "demons".

The massive mandatory minimum drug penalties of the "War on Drugs" don't simply send people to jail for a few months - but for huge chunks of their lives.

I met a guy a few years ago who was doing his second round in prison for using drugs. Not selling....using.

He said, "Hell...I've been a speed-freak since I was a hippy in the 60's." (He's now about 60). "After my first stint in prison, I was clean for a number of years," he said. "Then my mom died and I just couldn't handle the emotional pressure...so I started up again."

He was ultimately arrested and convicted of "conspiracy." He had been in contact with, and bought drugs from, a guy who sold meth--that was his element in the conspiracy. No one accused him of selling drugs himself. He was just a user. He has never been accused of a violent crime as a result of his drug use.

Doesn't matter. He got eight years in Federal Prison. What he needed was drug treatment.

The price of these policies to our broader society has been breathtaking. The entire correctional system had about 550,000 inmates in 1985. Today, it has 2.6 million-- mostly because of mandatory minimums and major limitations on the use of parole at both the state and federal level.

The cost of the system has gone from $9 billion a year in 1985 to $60 billion a year today.

The prison system doesn't focus on rehabilitation or education, either. It basically warehouses inmates and in many cases makes them more inclined to commit real crimes. Today the recidivism rate is 67%. Two-thirds of inmates will return to prison after being released.

As a result of these policies, one in three black men can expect to serve time in jail or prison at some point in his life, and at any given time one in nine African American men between 18 and 29 years of age is behind bars.

Our "War on Drugs" is one of the main reasons why America puts a higher percentage of its population behind bars than any other society on earth. A shocking twenty-five percent of prisoners in the World are in the US, even though we have only 5% of the world's population. That is shameful for the land of the free.

The bottom line is simple. America simply can't afford to allow McCain to continue Bush's "War on Drugs" for four more years.

Robert Creamer is a long-time political organizer and strategist and author of the recent book "Stand Up Straight: How Progressives Can Win", available on Amazon.com.

Comments

[HardyMacia]

The democrats haven't done a thing about the war on the america people, and Obama is going to continue to do the same thing by supporting the war on drugs and the american people.

If you want to end the war on drugs, support the only candidate who is a reformed drug warrior. Someone has was one of the more ardent supporters of the war on drugs, but has been through the internal debate in his mind as to why the war on drugs is a failure and must be ended. Support Bob Barr, Libertarian, for President.

[dannyS]

I agree with everything in this post, but this is a classic example of "What can I do?"
I won't be voting for McCain but will that mean the end of the war on drugs?

[3Gs]

The deeper truth is that the majority activities we practice in our short, worldly lives (consumerism, drug use, sex addiction, food addiction, etc...) to gain pleasure are all distractions from the true pleasure of finding God within ourselves. This is the reason why our personal suffering will continue without end until we connect with God. Addictions are the tools of Satan, who is no more than a manifestation of our collectively disconnected mindset. All the worlds churches cringe at the thought of an enlightened populace. This is why the houses of world power use and embrace the doctines of world religion. Religious dogma is a great vehical for maintaining spiritual poverty and starvation, enabling the continuation of the status quo. Hence the success of the GOP with the help of Christian AND Muslim AND Jewish religious leaders.

[drewb0b]

Besides the fact that religion is becoming increasingly irrelevant, it is not the governments job to impose its "moral" will on an entire nation. Remember "separation of church and state". No one has the right to tell me what I can or cannot put into my own body. Not your god, not the government. Besides the closest Ive ever come to belief in god came during a mushroom trip. Humans seek a better life in whatever way they see fit as well as most animals on the planet. Even a child spins around, gets disoriented, falls down, laughs and then does it again. You may think your better or more righteous than someone else but if you feel the need to cling to god and think that anything pleasurable is a sin, thats your right. But as for me Im going to enjoy my life on Earth as I see fit and not put my "faith" into something that can never be proven to exist or not.

[FreedomBeforeDemocracy]

This article is a good example of progressives missing the point. Although the author throws around the word freedom obligatorily, his anything but free. His solution is to just use the money the federal government steals from us, in a different way, namely education and rehabilitation. He suggests this is the more efficient use of the money. I have an even better use of the money. Let the people keep it and the federal government can never say a word about drug use again. If people want to use drugs, let them. If they destroy property as a result (including the unsolicited harm of others), let states/local communities incarcerate and/or fine them as appropriate.

The "War on Drugs" is a direct result of progressives destroying the 10th amendment (explicit limit on federal power). Remember the 18th. It was necessary for a federal prohibition on alcohol. But somehow (thanks to the "living" constitution) drugs are within the limits of the federal government"s power.

So, right on in getting rid of the "War on Drugs". Maybe next progressives can help end their "War on the Constitution."

[BARRISTER]

"Bush's ...failed War on Drugs.."?? What "WAR"??

Read Daniel Hopsicker's " Barry and the Boys", Chapter Twenty Seven, pages 263 et. seq., entitled "The War of '82". In fact, read the entire book available on Amazon, and learn about how we came to be the disaster in which we find ourselves, and see who are responsible for that. Mindboggling!!!

[anglohistorian]

To katsushin-
Thanks for the clarification.
I think perhaps we agree that the source of the anti- anything pleasurable even if not harmful
position is religion that says that anything pleasurable is a "sin".

[3Gs]

The deeper truth is that the majority activities we practice in our short, worldly lives (consumerism, drug use, sex addiction, food addiction, etc...) to gain pleasure are all distractions from the true pleasure of finding God within ourselves. This is the reason why our personal suffering will continue without end until we connect with God. Addictions are the tools of Satan, who is no more than a manifestation of our collectively disconnected mindset. All the worlds churches cringe at the thought of an enlightened populace. This is why the houses of world power use and embrace the doctines of world religion. Religious dogma is a great vehical for maintaining spiritual poverty and starvation, enabling the continuation of the status quo. Hence the success of the GOP with the help of Christian AND Muslim AND Jewish religious leaders.

[shelobo]

A Primer on Plan Mexico
The Bush Administration Has Put Its Proposal to Militarize Mexico to the Upcoming Iraq Supplemental Bill Article from The Narco News Bulletin,By Laura Carlsen
May 26, 2008
On October 22, 2007 President Bush announced the $1.4 billion dollar "Mérida Initiative," security aid package to Mexico and Central America. The initiative has fatal flaws in its strategy; instead of leading to a stable binational relationship and peaceful border communities, its military approach will escalate drug-related violence and human rights abuses.Read complete article at ....http://narconews.com/Issue53/article3093.html

[shelobo]

War on Drugs Huh ? Read these articles and then ask where has the billions of dollars of OUR money been going to and what has our money been used for ...http://narcosphere.narconews.com/notebook/okke-ornstein/2008/06/seaborne-rendition-program-before-panama-supreme-court ,http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0523/p09s01-coop.html ...An then theres article on McCains 'war on drugs'The US has continued to send billions of dollars in military aid, armament, mercenary organizations and herbicides to the corrupt narco-state of Colombia, an intervention begun by the Clinton administration in 2000 and continued by Bush. The White House now seeks to replicate the Colombian repression in the territory of its closest neighbor through Plan Mexico. Washington tried to give oxygen to a military-and-media coup d"etat attempt in Venezuela in 2002, only to be rebuked by that country"s people and 32 nations in the Organization of American States.Rest of article is at http://www.narconews.com/Issue53/article3104.html

[REICH]

Robert,
Your point is well taken. We are fighting enough wars right now. This war on drugs will never be won. But, this is not a Republican issue or a Democrat issue for election time debate. You have a constituancy that is aging and this is an effort to appease this crowd of older Americans and the Religious right.

I am sure that McCains effort on this issue is just a way of covering the issue before the main battle for President has heated up. By this I mean that McCain is doing this before he names a running mate.

Unfortunately, the war on drugs will never be stopped by either party. We can only wish. It needs to end to help make the dollar stronger. This could be done by taxing the sales of drugs. Let people have the free choice of killing themselves if they want. This is a free Country and drug consumption should be part of that freedom.

[worrierqueen]

It says something about American society that more people are in jail in absolute and percentage terms than any other country, more than iraq, more than China, more than Zimbabwe. It says something about US politicians that they feel the need to incarcerate almost 1% of the population.

The land of the free indeed.

[3Gs]

The powers that be probably see 1% as a complete success, expecially considering the profits made by the contractors involved in prison building, maintaining, and staffing.

[goodgulf]

If the peasent farmers had a money crop that provided the same income that they get from the drug cartels for cocaine and heroin, they would switch to that crop. If marijuana were legal for 21 and over, the peasent farmers would get paid more from the packaging companies in the US, then they are paid by the cartels for growing cocaine and opium poppies. If marijuana were legalized, there would be sales tax, sin tax, import tax and every employee in the the packaging and distribution of it would be paying income tax, state tax and social security. It would cut the amount of cocaine and heroin available on the street. It would also free up law enforcement to spend more resources on violent criminals.

[3Gs]

As long as the 'marajuana madness' crowd of the 50s maintains a sizeable voting block, legalized drugs will never happen. Sadly. Legalization is the only way, short of everyone deciding not to use drugs, that this will be brought under control.

[anglohistorian]

To Kasushin- if your reply was meant for me, I hope my sarcasm was recognized.
Meaning was- decriminalize or legalize, opium based substances, THC, and so forth, treat as an substance abuse problem, as we do with alcohol and tobacco now.
And if the policy is not decriminalization or legalization for ALL potentially abusable substances, then ALL abusable substances should be criminalized, and property including CORPORATE property must be seized and used in this "war".
Do you think intelligence and reason would prevail?
It surely hasn't yet has it?

[katsushin]

no it was meant for ofbbg who was saying that if we are going to have a "war" on drugs lets have a "real" war and kill smugglers, dealers and users on the spot.

[wrabbitt]

Drug war? I thought it was a place to throw money away. Always hear about it but, its like the weather, nobody does anything about it. It has cost us too much of our youth, with lives ruined by using and selling. It just made it more expensive, didn't stop it. Pot is not the monster that its made up to be,Its a great way to make tax money if legalized,and taken out of the hands of growers, and sellers. Legalization don't need to mean Heroin, and Cocaine, has to be sold at Walmart. Wouldn't programs designed to help those who have fallen into the drug treadmill be better served if we regulated and registered offenders instead of throwing them in jail, and making real criminals out of them?We know that a radical change is needed because what we have been doing for 40 years ain't working. And i am sure you will agree that a surge of any kind won't help this war.

[alamacTHC]

I was a lawyer with a medical problem that only THC (the main active ingredient in cannabis) could solve. It did--saved my life. And after I was free of the eating disorder and alcoholism that had destroyed my law practice and nearly killed me; after I had restored my life and my income; after I was free of the bizarre behavior that cost me 3 wives and a million bucks...

... the Federal drug fascists found my garden. And took everything I had and put me in Federal prison for 5 years. I was literally attacked by the National Guard who came in 4 helicopters to my rural 40-acre homestead (which they took as part of a forfeiture action, along with practically everything else I owned.) That was in 1995.

I am still off of alcohol and have recovered from the health problems brought on by the imprisonment. But I have yet to get my law license back, and have little savings and no retirement or medical insurance (I am 57). And I am one of the lucky ones--I have never been rearrested and have found a niche where I can at least survive, unlike most drugwar victims.

The drugwar is not about doing anyone any good. It is about perpetuating the economic privileges of large corporations, and about preserving a tool by which the powerful may bedevil those who disagree with them or who have the wrong color skin.

[TERRYKEITH4]

Well said and oh so true. I am a year younger than you and I can't believe that Americans can't see that this whole thing about troops over there and troops over everywhere is about drugs. They raised the price of oil as a distraction. The capitolist know that whatever country has the biggest dope sack, and the largest grocery bag is going to be the most rich and powerful country in the world. But they need junkies and poor people to really actually make it work. Build more prisons and close schools, hospitals, and psych wards and that fills the prisons up. The war on drugs is one great big farse! Why? Because the people distributing and selling drugs are more addicted to the money than the junkie is addicted to the dope. It will continue until Kingdom Come!

[ofbbg]

If you're going to have a "War on Drugs" (who started this war, by the way?), then have a WAR on drugs!

Penalty for drug smuggling - death! Penalty for drug distribution - death! Penalty for drug selling - death! On the spot. (Famous truism of behavior modification or elimination - punishment must be cruel, unusual, and swift to be effective). In addition, drug related illness or injury should not be treated at public expense - let the sympathetic start a private foundation to provide services. Drug use has been the causative factor in the deterioration of American society - it has destroyed the inner-city minority cultures nationwide, and yes, it has wasted a whole lot of money and resources. Either fight drugs as a full-blown war, or surrender and legalize everything.

[katsushin]

so either way is alright with you? Im sorry but I find that response a bit cowardly, at best. Do you really think that that would be ok to kill sellers and users on the spot?
Im sure (I hope) that was some misguided rhetorical device but anyone that understands drug use knows that it is not the use itself that destroys the user but the need to keep up his habit under the radar of black and blue shirted police.
You dont think that maybe the poverty was more instrumental in destroying the inner cities? Drug use is a symptom of the poverty and ennui of inner city life not the cause of it. In suburbia drugs are a symptom of the emptiness of "the American Dream" which amounts to nothing more than a consumer scheme to enrich corporate America. We work longer hours for less pay than any of the industrialized nations of Europe and we have no system to insure a quality of life that would make drug use unnecessary.
Drugs will be with this country until we no longer think the money is an end unto itself . Work must MEAN something in our lives besides scratching to pay our bills. Quality of life is the issue and anyone that spends 40, 50 or 60 hours a week working at a job that they hate will always want a diversion and drugs (and make no mistake about it alcohol is a drug)will be that diversion for

[worrierqueen]

"Drug use has been the causative factor in the deterioration of American society"

Why don't you have a cup of tea and a good lie down. Oh that's right then you would be a drug user.

Hypocrite. Let ye who has never had a cup of coffee, a cup of tea, a glass of wine or beer or an aspirin cast the first stone.

[anglohistorian]

we must criminalize alcohol and tobacco too.
We must seize the assets of Altria (Phillip Morris).
We must seize the assets of Anheuser Busch.
As an example to those drug pushers.
And ALL the other producers of alcohol and tobacco products.
After all, these products, alcohol and tobacco, are according to federal,
state and private sources directly and indirectly cause the deaths of between 250,000
to 400,000 of our citizens each year
Maybe our geniuses in the US Congress can develop and write a new version of the
Volstead Act. (A repealed Constitutional Amendment called "Prohibition" 1920-1933)
Oops- they got millions to spend lobbying. Can't do that.
Our citizens are either unconcerned, ignorant or blinded by "drug war" propaganda.
This is a MEDICAL problem! We TREAT MEDICALLY alcohol and tobacco abusers.
This a longer running mistaken "war" than Vietnam and Iraq put together, and
more corrosive to the body politic of this country than any other action or policy that
can be thought of.

[ProfessorXYZ]

Don't forget caffeine! Please won't you think of the children?!

[TERRYKEITH4]

Good Lord!!! Fascist against Fascism!!! How Coo Coo!