Small 'c' conservatives should end the war on drugs TelegraphJournal / Charles W. Moore / 08,05,2010 Scanning coverage of Conrad Black's release from prison on bail, I was amused (sort of) by a reporter's describing Mr. Black as a "one-time conservative." This assessment was based on Mr. Black's taking up the cause of prison and drug-law reform during his incarceration, and says more about the writer's superficial, stereotyped perceptions of "conservatism" than about Mr. Black's politics. Perspectives broadened, mind focused by circumstances, Mr. Black lobbed withering and well-deserved broadsides from behind bars at the United States justice system, which he accurately describes as "putrefied," "'a carceral state' that imprisons eight to 12 times more people per capita than the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, France, Germany or Japan..." "From my cell I scent the reeking soul of U.S. justice," Mr. Black proclaimed in a 2008 letter to the London Sunday Times, asserting that America's justice and penal systems are in critical condition, largely because of the so-called "war on drugs," especially marijuana, which can only be regarded by thinking persons - including and especially conservatives - as hysterical, bordering on the psychotic. Mr. Black picked up the thread last weekend in a National Post op-ed explaining: "I would not meet the usual definition of a socialist," but many [convicts] "are victims of legal and social injustice, inadequately provided for by the public assistance system, and over-prosecuted and vengefully sentenced." Mr. Black characterizes "the entire 'war on drugs'" as dismal failure, "a trillion taxpayers' dollars squandered... one million small fry imprisoned at a cost of $50 billion a year"... "with absurd sentences, (including 20 years for marijuana offences, although 42 per cent of Americans have used marijuana and it is the greatest cash crop in California.)... targeted substances are more available and of better quality than ever, while producing countries such as Colombia and Mexico are in a state of civil war." A lifelong conservative, I concur with that assessment unreservedly. I'm certain many other conservatives can as well. For example, Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP) is a 13,000-member drug policy reform organization founded in 2002 for police officers, judges, corrections officers, and other justice system personnel who, having witnessed horrors and injustices fighting on the front lines in the "war on drugs," believe current policies have failed at effectively addressing problems of drug abuse, worsened rather than alleviated juvenile drug use, addiction, and crime caused by the criminal black market in drugs, contending that regulation of consensual adult use would be more ethical and less harmful than prohibition - something we should've learned from failed experiments with alcohol prohibition in the 1920s and '30s. Canada is descending into the same dysfunctional dynamic, recent statistics showing marijuana charges account for 72 per cent of drug prosecutions on this side of the border, with governments spending a reported $1 billion annually to battle the drug trade - 70 per cent of that on marijuana. And for what? Almost all of pot's negative social effects have been caused and created by the government's ineffectual and futile prohibition efforts that arbitrarily criminalize production, distribution, and use. It's 74 years since the U.S criminalized marijuana, and 40 years since U.S. President Richard Nixon declared his "War on Drugs," Canada following suit. The result? Miserable and absurdly expensive failure in money squandered and lives ruined. The UN's 2007 World Drug Report found Canadians and Americans have the highest cannabis use rates among developed nations - 16.8 per cent and 12.6 per cent respectively. According to the Canadian Addiction Survey, 50 per cent of Canadians aged 44 to 54 have used pot. The Harper government's orientation on this issue is perversely wrongheaded. After taking office, the Conservatives killed a Liberal bill to decriminalize small amounts of marijuana, and prosecutions for possession increased by up to one-third in several Canadian cities. A Senate report noted that annually 30,000 Canadians are charged with simple possession of marijuana, three-quarters of whom emerge from the process with criminal records. Now THERE's legitimate cause for moral outrage! Marijuana isn't a drug that causes criminality. Thousands of Canadians are getting criminal records that can affect future employment prospects and prevent them from traveling to other countries for indulging in a victimless, harmless activity. This is barking madness. Research has proved that compared with legal drugs such as tobacco and alcohol, marijuana is much less addictive - if addictive at all - with no danger of death from overdose. The canard that it's a "gateway" drug that leads users to try harder drugs is ideologically-driven, insupportable bunkum and discredited in scientific literature, which shows only one in nine marijuana users goes on to try cocaine, and just one in 20 to experiment with heroin. Congratulations to Conrad Black on his bail release pending appeal of his conviction, and on his future endeavors as a penal and drug law reform crusader - a cause conservatives should get behind. Charles W. Moore is a Nova Scotia based freelance writer and editor. He can be reached by e-mail at cwmoore@gmx.net. His column appears each Thursday.