War On Drugs

Ron Allen probably thinks Alice Huffman has been smoking something. Ms. Huffman, president of the California Conference of the NAACP, recently declared support for an initiative that, if passed by voters in November, will decriminalize the use and possession of marijuana. Ms. Huffman sees it as a civil rights issue. In response, Bishop Allen, founder of a religious social activism group called the International Faith-Based Coalition, has come out swinging. "Why would the state NAACP advocate for blacks to stay high?"

So we have another innocent victim of the war on drugs, this time an 86-year-old man named Elbert Davis, the father of a Baltimore police officer. Wednesday morning, two plainclothes detectives were doing their job, watching the activities of suspected drug dealers at the Seton Park apartments in Howard Park. They went to stop a couple of them, but the suspects drove away, and a few blocks later, there was a crash — the fleeing drug suspects' Acura striking the elderly Mr. Davis' Pontiac.

Justice John Paul Stevens, who announced his resignation from the Supreme Court after 34 years, is at 90 old enough to remember Prohibition, and he's among the few members of the judiciary to liken our modern "war on drugs" to the failed effort, between 1919 and 1933, to keep Americans from drinking liquor. It was in his dissent in a student freedom of speech case from 2007 — known as the "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" case — that Justice Stevens wondered why more Americans do not openly question the war on drugs, and he compared our silence to those who secretly disagreed with the constitutional ban on booze way back when.

They gathered at the rowhouse where Marty Ward was shot, to pay respects to the Baltimore police detective slain 25 years ago while posing as a heroin dealer, to rename a still-desolate stretch of Frederick Avenue in his honor, to remember one of the first casualties in what was then the start of the war on drugs. When the speeches and accolades were over, federal drug agent Kevin Donnelly, the leader of the Black and Gold Pipes and Drums, dressed in a towering black feather bonnet, tunic and kilt, stood at the podium.

Walter Cronkite, once the most trusted man in America and a leading figure in broadcast journalism's Mount Rushmore, believed the nation's war on drugs was unwinnable, and he said so on television. A decade after his years with CBS News, Mr. Cronkite succeeded in raising public awareness of the war's futility - an impressive accomplishment. Of course, Mr. Cronkite is famous for having reached the same correct conclusion about the Vietnam War in 1968. All of his obituaries have recalled Mr. Cronkite's special report from Vietnam, his characterization of the war as stalemate and his call for a negotiated peace.

So, a former city police commissioner is miffed at the sitting city police commissioner for hyping a drug bust. Five years ago, Kevin P. Clark stood in front of the TV cameras and hailed the seizure of 338 pounds of cocaine, describing it as one of the largest in recent years. A week ago, Frederick H. Bealefeld III stood in front of the TV cameras and hailed the seizure of 90 pounds of cocaine, describing it as the biggest in the Baltimore Police Department's history. Clark called the newspaper to complain.

Friday marks 75 years since repeal of the Volstead Act, which made the manufacture, distribution and consumption of alcoholic beverages illegal in the United States. As the anniversary of the end of Prohibition approaches, modern advocates of a similar repeal are calling again for the decriminalization of heroin, cocaine and marijuana - and this time they've come packing a money argument by a Harvard economist. I like money arguments. They are usually a lot more effective than emotional ones or those that exploit stubborn prejudices with the intent of maintaining the status quo. As the American economy recedes, state and local tax revenues fall and government budgets are cut, the money argument for changing the way we do things - from enforcing the laws to educating children - makes the most sense and has the strongest appeal.

Given the nature and cost of the war on drugs - to the state, to the counties and the cities, to families, to businesses, to neighborhoods, to property values and insurance rates - nothing in the realm of criminal justice screams for more reform than our approach to drug addiction and related criminality. In some way - directly, or through taxation, or in the costs of insurance for homes and motor vehicles - drug addiction touches the lives of every man, woman and child in Maryland. The same is true on a national scale.

Visiting Baltimore last week, President Bush shared his personal struggles against alcohol addiction with former prisoners in recovery who are enrolled in Jericho, a program to help them re-enter productively into society. Mr. Bush recounted having given up alcohol the day after his 40th birthday, after a "particularly boozy night." He often credits his Christian faith for giving him the strength to stay sober. Although his presidency is almost over, it's not too late for Mr. Bush to do much good as a role model and advocate for people recovering from addiction.