Legalize It

Update: The War on Drugs is a War on You

Amid reports that more policymakers are questioning whether the mass incarceration of our children for non-violent drug crimes constitutes the smartest American public policy, one must note that Barack Obama passed up an opportunity last week to inject some sanity into the discussion, ignoring the clear economic and human effects of legalizing or at least decriminalizing marijuana.

But on the bright side, there remains hope and speculation that Obama knows better and will act on decriminalizing marijuana at some point.

Notes John H. Richardson in Esquire:

In July, Obama told Rolling Stone that he believed in 'shifting the paradigm' to a public-health approach: 'I would start with nonviolent, first-time drug offenders. The notion that we are imposing felonies on them or sending them to prison, where they are getting advanced degrees in criminality, instead of thinking about ways like drug courts that can get them back on track in their lives -- it's expensive, it's counterproductive, and it doesn't make sense.'

For a continuing sane discussion of these matters, see Madison NORMAL.