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Editorial: Obama's Other War

Submitted by David Borden on (Issue #572)
Politics & Advocacy

guest editorial by Matthew Robinson

As commander-in-chief, President Barack Obama must now oversee our wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. As President, he is also responsible for another war, one that has gone on much longer and been more costly in terms of dollars spent and lives lost.

The Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) is an executive agency in the White House. According to its web site, ONDCP is charged with establishing the policies, priorities, and objectives for all US drug control policy. And Obama is now in charge of ONDCP.

ONDCP's goals include reducing illicit drug use, manufacturing and trafficking of drugs, drug-related crime and violence, and drug-related health consequences. Research has shown that ONDCP has failed to consistently meet these goals since it was created in November 1988.

propaganda for too long -- ONDCP's National Drug Control Strategy report
Illicit drug use is not down during ONDCP's tenure, drugs are still widely available, and illicit drugs are actually more dangerous now than even during the peak of drug use in 1979. Crime and violence have significantly declined but criminological research shows this is mostly attributable to non-criminal justice factors such as an improved economy and an aging population.

In spite of this, each year when it releases its National Drug Control Strategy, ONDCP continues to "sell" the drug war by saying it is effective, compassionate and balanced, even though it is none of these things. My research has shown that ONDCP has consistently misled Congress and taxpayers about the fact that the drug war has largely failed.

For example, ONDCP focuses almost exclusively on short-term declines in reported use by young people, ignoring increases in some drugs by youth as well as long-term trends and drug use by adults. Further, it claims our nation's drug control policy is balanced even though the budget is clearly tilted in favor of reactive and supply side tactics such as domestic law enforcement and military spending rather than proactive and demand side methods such as prevention and treatment.

Critics of the drug war have pointed out, correctly, that the most effective as well as cost-effective measures are carefully designed and honest prevention messages and well-staffed drug abuse treatment programs. Yet, 65 percent of the FY 2009 drug control budget is intended for the less effective measures of domestic law enforcement, interdiction and international spending, versus only 35 percent for prevention and treatment. And these figures actually underestimate the amount going to reactive drug control strategies for they do not count the tens of billions of dollars spent each year arresting, processing, and punishing drug offenders.

On the night Barack Obama accepted the Democratic nomination for President, he said he would "go through the federal budget, line by line, eliminating programs that no longer work and making the ones we do need work better and cost less, because we cannot meet twenty-first century challenges with a twentieth century bureaucracy." ONDCP is a failing agency, one that needs to be completely revamped.

In the 2009 National Drug Control Strategy, ONDCP reports that the Office of Management and Budget's Program Assessment Rating Tool (PART) scores have been released for more than 20 drug control programs. PART rates a program's purpose, planning, management, and results to determine its effectiveness on a scale from 0 to 100. What ONDCP fails to report are its scores. The scores for results are: 42 (Drug-Free Communities Support Program); 33 (High Intensity Drug trafficking Areas); 11 (Counterdrug Technology transfer Program); 7 (Counterdrug Research & Development); and 6 (Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign). Yes, that is out of 100.

According to ONDCP's stated budget, we spend more than $14 billion each year on national drug control policy; in fact, the true cost is much higher. But one thing is clear -- much of this spending is wasted on ineffective programs. Further, more than $420 million is spent on ONDCP itself, a nontransparent, dishonest executive agency.

Obama claims his administration will be transparent and honest, and that the policies he will pursue will be evidence-based. So here is an exciting possibility for Obama to live up to his word. To do this, he must welcome drug abuse experts to the White House, listen to them, and read their work.

The vast majority of drug abuse experts will tell Obama that the drug war has been a massive failure. We've wasted hundreds of billions of dollars under ONDCP's direction pursuing policies and programs that not only fail to meaningfully reduce the availability and use of illicit drugs but also cost us thousands of lives every year. Continuing to spend money on these policies and programs is like pouring money down a hole. Given the state of the economy, we simply cannot justify staying on this path.

The good news is that even conservatives in Congress should welcome a new path. After all, they probably hate big government more than Obama. And the drug war is big government, running amok and out of control.

Even better news is that more effective alternatives are available, including policies aimed at preventing experimentation with drug use among young people, reducing harms associated with illicit drug use among adults, and reducing drug abuse through public health approaches such as treatment.

The time for change is now. Based on Obama's choice for Director of ONDCP -- Seattle Police Chief Gil Kerlikowske -- there is hope for a change in direction. Though Kerlikowske has been in law enforcement for 36 years -- a medical or public health professional might make a better pick -- he is an advocate for community-oriented policing and investing in crime prevention. Kerlikowske opposed a ballot measure in Seattle to make marijuana possession the lowest law enforcement priority, but he also said it was already a low priority, and marijuana possession arrests by his department have dropped substantially since the measure's enactment. Medical marijuana is legal in Seattle, and the city runs needle exchanges and other programs based on the philosophy of harm reduction. Kerlikowske has not been an outspoken advocate for those programs, but neither has he stood in their way.

For there to be real change in the drug war, Kerlikowske must immediately learn that he has inherited an agency that has consistently failed to achieve its goals and to tell the truth to the American people. If Obama believes in a transparent, honest, evidence-based drug control policy, it will be up to Kerlikowske, once confirmed, to make that a reality.

Matthew Robinson is Professor of Government and Justice Studies at Appalachian State University. He is the author of nine books including Lies, Damned Lies, and Drug War Statistics (SUNY Press, 2009).

Permission to Reprint: This content is licensed under a modified Creative Commons Attribution license. Content of a purely educational nature in Drug War Chronicle appear courtesy of DRCNet Foundation, unless otherwise noted.

Comments

Anonymous (not verified)

Change, what will real change amount to?
Healthcare for all our citizens, winning the war on terror, better break for the middle class, no more dependence on foreign energy?
Even if all these things happen will it amount to any kind of real change? Will you still be worried if you have to use a cash machine late at night? Will there still be gang violence if we all have health care? Will you still worry that your kids are in a dangerous place trying to score some weed? Will people still be afraid to sit on their front porch without getting hit by a stray bullet?
Try this, bring up the subject of marijuana in a crowd like a restaurant or store and use the word drugs or marijuana in a somewhat loud voice. Watch the people near you
automatically lower their voices or move away from you out of what? Bad hygiene? Bad breath? No, they lower their voices out of fear, not fear of drug dealers or users. They move away and lower their voices out of fear of the LAW! Someone might say I heard so and so talking about drugs ect: ect:
I don’t know about you but as a lifelong defender of this great nation this is certainly not the America I fought for.
The huge black market in drugs is the financial machine which pays for the gangs and guns and violence that plagues us all from large city to little burg. If these politicians really want change they will get serious about ending this long nightmare.
There will be no real change in America until the ’police state like cloud’ of the War on Drugs , which hangs over the country like smog over LA, is dissipated by the fresh wind and bright light of personal freedom.

Fri, 02/13/2009 - 11:54am Permalink
rita (not verified)

aren't, and never were, to reduce drug use. The only goal of government agencies involved in the so-called "war on drugs" is to incarcerate as many people as possible. That's why the drug czar keeps saying that the war is being won. Because it is.

Fri, 02/13/2009 - 7:20pm Permalink
Anonymous (not verified)

There must be other motivations for continuing the War on Drugs, it isn't about protecting Americans, or American society. It isn't even about stopping drug use for whatever reason.

I suspect corruption. Illegal drugs is the world's 2nd or 3rd biggest industry, and that much money would mean doing whatever to keep it going.

Also, the CIA has used illegal drug money as an "alternative revenue stream" to fund their "unsavoury activities" for several decades now, they are dependant on that money to operate.

The economic troubles we are having could be solved by regulating and taxing drugs, to say nothing of using the War on Drugs money for better things.

Human Rights - who am I? A BABY?? Why can't I decide how much morphine I need for my own pain? I get a prescription, so pitifully small, that it is torture to be addicted to it... and no other drug will take away opiate withdrawals.

Sat, 02/14/2009 - 3:15pm Permalink
Anonymous (not verified)

The ONDCP Reauthorization Act itself will be the biggest stumbling block for the new drug tzar. He will immediately be faced with "telling the truth" or "following the Act." I have no doubt which he'll chose, given the origin of his new paycheck.

Someone needs to rewrite that Act! And not the VP!

Sat, 02/14/2009 - 6:17pm Permalink
Anonymous (not verified)

Please take a moment to watch my newest video:

Re-Legalize Marijuana Now, Obama (1)
http://www.newagecitizen.com/MERP/RelegalizeNowObama01.htm

Next send the link to activists throughout the planet. The translation bar should allow this to be read in any language. The 5-Point Strategy for Marijuana Re-Legalization should be easy to implement in any country throughout the planet. I encourage all groups celebrating the Global Marijuana March (May 2nd and 9th) to make the immediate implementation of the MERP Model a primary focus of the event.

http://www.newagecitizen.com/MERP/RelegalizeNowObama01.htm

Mon, 02/16/2009 - 11:19am Permalink
Anonymous (not verified)

Here is a good link for seeing that we have caught the attention of some Check out The Columbus Dispatch {Ohio]editorial for Monday Feb.16th by Robyn Blummer titled Drug Czar Might bring better insight to the battle.Of course we all know this but at least they are trying to get the word out

Mon, 02/16/2009 - 9:11pm Permalink
Anonymous (not verified)

Use email,phone hammering,personal and group appearance at all local,state,federal,global,and private levels of the war against drugs foreign occupation.Make sure to never stop calling,emailing,etc. and demand that that military force be used against all war against drugs/war against people if they dont immediately end their forced fraudulent occupation. gather in front of D.E.A. headquarters with signs that say get out ! we are flooding the worlds military forces with requests to destroy all D.E.A./war mongers/prohibitionists cult leaders foreign forced religious cult. WE RESPECTFULLY REQUEST THAT THE UNITED STATES MILITARY AND ALLIES REMOVE AND/OR DESTROY ALL WARS/DRUG WARS AND ALL WHO OPERATE THEM

Thu, 02/19/2009 - 5:01pm Permalink
Anonymous (not verified)

We no longer recognize the authority of any local,state,federal,global or private leaders who practice wars/drug wars and impose this fraud on everyone.All petrochemiceutical drug pharmacies which pay for the war against drugs and all local,state,federal employees who reap the profits of the wars terrorist insider trading scam should suffer far greater penalty than Martha Stewart! WAR/WAR AGAINST DRUGS FORCERS GET OFF OF EVERYONES LAND NOW. WAR MONGERS KILL YOURSELVES !

Thu, 02/19/2009 - 5:10pm Permalink

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