Reuter drug policy findings used in Seattle Times editorial

Syndicated columnist Nicholas D. Kristof claims that the drug war has given us a prison population five times the world average, has empowered criminal elements "from the Latin American drug lords to the Taliban," and has squandered billions in national treasure. Writing in the Seattle Times, he suggests, "It's now broadly acknowledged that the drug war approach has failed. President Barack Obama's new drug czar, Gil Kerlikowske, also a former Seattle police chief, told the Wall Street Journal that he wants to banish the war on drugs phraseology, while shifting more toward treatment over imprisonment.

"The stakes are huge, the uncertainties great, and there's a genuine risk that liberalizing drug laws might lead to an increase in use and in addiction. But the evidence suggests that such a risk is small. After all, cocaine was used at only one-fifth of current levels when it was legal in the United States before 1914. And those states that have decriminalized marijuana possession have not seen surging consumption.

" 'I don't see any big downside to marijuana decriminalization,' said Peter Reuter, a professor of criminology at the University of Maryland who has been skeptical of some of the arguments of the legalization camp. At most, he said, there would be only a modest increase in usage."

See the complete Seattle Times editorial.