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I live on the California border, so I keep up on medical marijuana there. I also have chronic pain from back surgery, so I understand the patients side. Dispensaries in California may be proving the other sides point.

Most people who notice that the drug war has failed eventually come to understand that we must stop wasting billions of dollars harming people who've used drugs.

But a select few propose escalation, and their ideas range from crazy to…well, crazier.

Expert: War on drugs should shift focus from the Press & Sun-Bulletin in Binghamton, NY gives a voice to former DEA agent Michael Levine, who I don't think will be joining LEAP anytime soon. He's written a book called Fight Back that doesn't sound very good.

According to Levine, the reason the drug war is failing is because we've been wasting our time chasing the dealers when we should be trying to arrest all the users. He's serious:

It is the druggie who is victimizing us. It is he -- not the drug dealer, the smuggler, the Medellin Cartel, or all the Manuel Noriegas of this world -- who is responsible for the spread of drug abuse.

He thinks we should turn to China and Japan for guidance:

They succeeded in getting the situation under control because they targeted the users, forcing them into rehabilitation. They realized "that they did not have a drug epidemic; they had an epidemic of druggies."

For starters, we must begin teaching children the truth about drugs:

Levine says druggies should be depicted "convulsing and vomiting on themselves in detoxification wards; or staring vacant eyed on the benches of intake centers and emergency wards. That is what being a druggie is really all about, and that is what we should want our kids to see and understand."

Of course, no such rant would be complete without this:

Give me one community -- the worse the better -- where the citizens, the media and the police are willing to work together in following the step-by-step plan of Fight Back and I guarantee the end of the drug problem within one year."

I think the first step towards solving our drug problem is to be more selective in our use of the term "expert."

The 2nd National Conference on Methamphetamine, HIV and Hepatitis wrapped up Saturday in Salt Lake. It was an amazing array of panels, plenaries, and presentations on dozens of topics related to methamphetamine policy, treatment, prevention, and education, and it's given me several story ideas: In a panel on the good, the bad, and the ugly in meth policy, Lynn Paltrow of National Advocates for Pregnant Women gave a powerful presentation on efforts to criminalize drug using pregnant women despite the lack of evidence that neonatal drug exposures result in damage to the fetus (or more damage than can result from non-criminalized exposures). In Arkansas last year, the legislature passed a law making a positive drug test in a newborn evidence of presumptive child abuse. Now, a report on how the law has worked has just been issued. Look for a story on this issue this week, as well as a heads up for activists in other states where similar measures are pending. I'll also be looking into stimulant substitution therapy. Although it was a disappointment that Dr. John Grabowski of the University of Texas at Houston, the leading American researcher on the topic, couldn't make it, there was a good panel discussion on the topic led by Bill Piper of the Drug Policy Alliance. It's also timely, given that Vancouver Mayor Sam Sullivan is seeking to embark on a massive, 700-person pilot program there. Look for an article on this soon, too. I also had a nice chat with Boston-based anthropologist Patricia Case, who gave a fascinating presentation on the history of amphetamines. When she heard that I live in an area with lots of meat-packers, she got very excited about doing some research on meth use in the industry. She and I will work on getting that done. She's interested in the anthropology of it; I'm interested in seeing if there is evidence of "normal" meth use, or meth users who are not totally deranged. It seems as if everyone assumes every who uses the drug is an insane tweaker, but I wonder about that. This will be a more long-term project, though.