Open Thread

“bullet” The New York Times editorial that I mentioned last week has generated some Letters to the Editor. Califano’s letter is so… Califano — he just can’t stop himself from making up bizarre statistics.
“bullet” Clarence Page phones in a column about the drug war Don’t forget the war next door. Come on, Clarence — what a waste of prime newspaper real estate! You could be a voice on the drug war, if you’d only grow a pair.
“bullet” On the other hand, Josh Strawn hits one out of the park with War on Drugs vs. War on Terror at Pajamas Media, explaining to conservatives why our drug policy doesn’t work.

Drug policy has been sculpted by notions of public morality, out of the supposed desire to maintain order and to preserve quality of life instead of letting it deteriorate. But the evidence proves that those objectives are not only failing to be met, the inverse is being accomplished. Drug policies Ö in particular those defined by eradication of crops and draw-down of demand Ö create more chaos than order, and destroy more lives than they save. This argument needs now to extend beyond the crack alleys of America and into rural Afghanistan, where farmers and their families Ö our potential allies in the quest for peace and stability in Afghanistan Ö are suffering because of our own stale ineffectual anti-drug policy.