ONE PUFF AT A TIME

The States Are Loosening Drug Laws; Will Washington Follow?

PROHIBITION supposedly divided America, like Gaul, into three parts: wets,
drys and hypocrites. Cannabis is now doing the same. One in three adult
Americans admits to having tried the herb; most have survived, and some
have even gone on to become president. Yet the government still spends
billions of dollars trying to save them from it. In 2000, the last year for
which figures are available, 734,497 people were arrested on marijuana
charges, more than twice the number in 1991. Nine in ten of these
"criminals" were guilty of possession alone.

Several European countries have tired of this crusade. Will America follow?
The first puff of smoke comes from Nevada, where a chance to legalise
marijuana is on November's ballot. Even if Nevadans vote in favour of
Question Nine, they will need to do so again in 2004 for the initiative to
become law. Yet the aim is clear: to make pot as legal as beer.

Nevada has already moved a step or two in that direction. Two years ago,
voters widely approved a measure to legalise marijuana for medicinal
purposes. In 2001, the state legislature decriminalised possession of small
amounts of the drug. Under Question Nine, anybody older than 20 would be
allowed to possess up to three ounces of the stuff- enough for a nice
evening in (or at least that's what some guy we met somewhere told us once).

The details of the distribution system are still unclear: would there be
special shops and farms, or would anybody be allowed to grow and sell it?
But the state legislature would regulate dealers, tax sales of the weed and
even subsidise low-cost medical marijuana for some patients, such as AIDS
sufferers. The initiative sets out harsh penalties for smoking the drug in
public, selling it to children and driving under the influence. Anybody
caught selling the drug without a proper licence would be sent to prison.

Advocates argue that a regulated marijuana market would free policemen for
other work and give the government more control over the trade. Even the
Nevada Conference of Police and Sheriffs, weary of the thankless task of
pursuing pot-smokers, endorsed Question Nine at first- though it backed down
when its endorsement made headlines, and its president had to resign.

A recent opinion poll shows Nevada's voters rejecting Question Nine by 55%
to 40% (5% being unsure). It will probably be much closer than that. A
record 110,000 people signed a petition to put the idea on the ballot, with
18-25-year-olds (surprise!) showing particular enthusiasm. Billy Rogers,
campaign manager for the artfully named Nevadans for Responsible Law
Enforcement, which is pushing the initiative, is confident that Question
Nine will pass. This is despite the news that America's drugs tsar, John
Walters, will descend on Las Vegas on October 10th to speak out against it.
Although he will come armed with plenty of alarming statistics, the
pro-cannabites feel his visit will only help their cause. Nevadans do not
like federal bureaucrats telling them how to vote.

The state, which already allows legalised prostitution and gambling, may
seem an atypically libertarian sort of place. But 11 states have
decriminalised possession of small amounts of marijuana, and eight allow
use of the drug for medicinal reasons (California, Colorado, Maine, Nevada
and Oregon permit both). Recent national polls show 70% of Americans
supporting medicinal marijuana and 60% favouring decriminalising possession
of small amounts. A number of other ballot initiatives in November reflect
this shift. Voters in Arizona will decide whether to decriminalise small
amounts of marijuana; and in wide-open San Francisco, red-eyed voters may
decide whether the city itself should start growing cannabis.

The problem is how to reconcile these states' lenient laws with the
stringent federal ones. Last October, the Bush administration began a
wide-ranging crackdown on medicinal-marijuana distribution, tearing up
patient-run gardens and confiscating doctors' files in California. A group
of these doctors has successfully sued the government, though the case has
gone to appeal and could eventually reach the Supreme Court. In Santa Cruz
on September 17th, medical marijuana was handed out at City Hall in a
protest against a federal raid on a cannabis collective. A States' Right to
Medical Marijuana Act has attracted 36 co-sponsors in Congress, but seems
unlikely to get anywhere this year.

Money may eventually help politicians to change their minds. It costs $1.2
billion a year to keep 60,000 people in prison for marijuana offences. The
cost in police time is stunning, too: California is said to have saved
$100m a year in enforcement costs by relaxing its laws. By letting Nevada
tax the drug, Question Nine would turn the wicked weed into a nice little
earner.

Pubdate: Sun, 29 Sep 2002
Source: Economist, The (UK)
Copyright: 2002 The Economist Newspaper Limited
Contact: letters@economist.com
Website: http://www.economist.com/