I like Mary Anastasia O'Grady in the WSJ, because she is the rare prominent columnist who works the Western Hemisphere with such diligence. She's also unstinting in a lot of good ways, so when she writes approvingly of a recent blue-ribbon commission (George Shultz, Paul Volcker, Javier Solana, etc) issuing yet another call to end the war on drugs, I listen.
She talks about how John D. Rockefeller came out in 1932 and admitted that the whole conservative experiment had been a complete disaster, largely because it destroyed respect for the law. Rockefeller had been a huge supporter of Prohibition going in, committing resources.
What have we gotten with the drug war? Unbelievable incarceration rates, drugs still plentiful and easily accessed by those who want them (according to my HSer and college kid), and the militarization of our relationship with Latin America - opening the door to China.
We simply cannot secure a border when our own money constantly destabilizes it: we are fighting money with money, burning up resources in the process and punishing our neighbors unduly.
The madness needs to stop. Decriminalization isn't legalization. It just means you don't judicialize/criminalize all your tools.
Great piece.