Fascinating that when I typed the title of this entry into a search engine, my first hit was from the British publication The Independent..

Here is the nut of the January 17th story under the headline: "US waves white flag in disastrous 'war on drugs'"

"Prepare to shed a tear over the loss of revenue that eventual decriminalisation of narcotics could bring to the traffickers, large and small, and to the contractors who have been making good money building and running the new prisons that help to bankrupt governments – in the US in particular, where drug offenders – principally small retailers and seldom the rich and important wholesalers – have helped to push the prison population to 1,600,000; their imprisonment is already straining federal and state budgets."

But will Obama and Kerlikowske be successful?The fear of drugs is so pervasive in this country that it is going to be very hard to overcome the horror stories that will be ginned up to stop the momentum of this major policy shift.

We've made small steps here in Washington State, but still face an uphill climb. Pete Holmes, the newly elected Seattle City Attorney, recently announced that he would dismiss virtually all marijuana possession cases. Two bills were introduced in the Washington State Legislature earlier this session to decriminalize marijuana possession. No doubt the sponsors were emboldened by the new Obama policy, and by the state's fiscal crisis. Both of these statewide bills were voted down before they got out of committee. Fear mongers win again...

But this is one issue where the public seems well ahead of the policymakers.

A recent ABC poll found "Eight in 10 Americans support legalizing marijuana for medical use and nearly half favor decriminalizing the drug more generally, both far higher than a decade ago."

The tide is turning. It is time for the politicians to listen to the people. It is time to put real resources into treatment for addictions and stop throwing away lives and dollars fighting a nonsensical "war."