Cronkite Was Right About This 'War,' Too

Of course, most rational people - in public opinion surveys or coffee shop conversation - agree that heroin and cocaine addiction, at the root of so much crime and social dysfunction, should be treated medically, not criminally. We have come a long way in funding treatment, but our prisons remain full.

It's people in power (politicians, primarily) who do not have the nerve to challenge all this. Objective analysis and common sense should tell them the war on drugs is futile and that the demand side of the problem needs the most effort and resources. Yet, they maintain status quo. (Two years ago, Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley called drug dealing a "violent crime" while refusing to support a modest reform in the sentencing of low-level, nonviolent dealers.)

There are signs that some in power are wising up. The nation's new drug czar, Gil Kerlikowske, was in Baltimore this week to learn about the city's drug courts, which provide addicts with treatment instead of jail time. Mr. Kerlikowske said this will be incorporated into national drug policy.

There are those who support an end to the Prohibition-style policies of the last 30 years, but they tend to be out of office by the time they speak up: former cops and police commissioners, former officeholders and retired judges. The time of their greatest influence has passed.

That might have been the case with Walter Cronkite. He recognized that a lot of the people caught up in the drug life were not high-level drug dealers attached to violent gangs but men and women who had an addiction and who sometimes sold drugs to feed their habits. Mr. Cronkite ended up supporting Mr. Nadelmann's Drug Policy Alliance, helping raise funds to end the war on drugs. That's what earned him the Bill O'Reilly rant. In other words, the most trusted man in America was right again.

Dan Rodricks' column appears Wednesdays and Sundays. He is host of the Midday talk show on WYPR-FM.