cannabisnews.com: Ethan Nadelmann Says...





Ethan Nadelmann Says...
Posted by FoM on August 03, 2000 at 10:40:44 PT
By National Review Staff
Source: National Review
“The Shadow Convention presented a unique opportunity to get the issue of drug-policy reform out there…”NR: Why did the Lindsmith Center participate in the Shadow Convention? Nadelmann: The Shadow Convention presented a unique opportunity to get the issue of drug-policy reform out there, to get people to focus on the failed consequences of the drug war, and to begin to appreciate the alternatives. It was far and away the most significant opportunity we've had to provide a platform for some of the most prominent Americans who have spoken out against the drug war. 
Governor Gary Johnson of New Mexico, who has really stepped out on this issue, had an opportunity to speak. On the other hand, he was juxtaposed with Reverend Jesse Jackson, a leader among African-Americans in this country, coming from a very different political place, but speaking to the same issue, which is the failed drug war. And then going back to Tom Campbell, the congressman from California who is running for Senate on the Republican ticket, and once again, condemning the drug war, condemning the U.S. aid package to Colombia, calling for more drug treatment, calling for the drug issue to be treated as a health issue. So it was an opportunity to take some of the most prominent figures associated with us, and combine them with, for example, a very emotional ceremony involving dozens if not hundreds of people who have family members incarcerated. We also heard from a black minister, Edwin Sanders, who has spoken out against the drug war. This was the biggest and most significant event to date in the young history of the drug-policy reform movement. NR: Do you think there might be a place for you inside the convention in 2004? Nadelmann: I would be surprised if things change that quickly. For every Gary Johnson, there is a much more substantial number of people who think about it the same way but don't yet have the guts to come out and say so. What we're looking for is enough of a critical mass that politicians find safety in numbers speaking out against this policy. There's a chance that enough people will have come out of the closet in support of drug-policy reform by 2004 that our issue will begin to be part of the mainstream-party agendas. My guess is it will probably focus specifically on issues like asset forfeiture, over-incarceration, and medical marijuana, in which areas significant majorities of Americans already support reform. We do feel as if the issue is beginning to have some currency in mainstream circles. And we now have some victories under our belt. We've won 12 out of 13 ballot initiatives since 1996. We've begun to be successful in changing state laws ranging from methadone and needle exchange to medical marijuana and sentencing. Five years ago none of that was true. Now we're winning victories on the state and local level. NR: You mentioned politicians who have had the courage to come out of the closet. Tom Campbell is probably the most… Nadelmann: I always put Johnson and Cambpell together. Johnson's the first sitting governor to do it. In a way, Kurt Schmoke, the mayor of Baltimore, was the one who broke the ground in 1988, but Gary Johnson was the first sitting governor — he was in a position to follow through on the ground, appointing a task force, and, as he put it in his speech yesterday, to call for a new bottom-line drug policy. That was remarkable. And now Tom Campbell is remarkable because he's the first guy to actually be running for statewide office on a platform that includes major drug-policy reform. NR: You actually introduced Tom Campbell. Could you go into a little more detail on what he had to say? Nadelmann: Campbell harshly criticized the U.S. aid package to Colombia as a waste of money, as money thrown at a problem where the U.S. could accomplish very little and where there were no good criteria for success or failure. He also powerfully supported more funding for drug treatment. He said the money we're spending in Colombia should be spent instead on increasing drug treatment within the United States, and he justified this both in human terms and in cost-benefit terms, that money spent on drug treatment is a good investment. And then he strongly endorsed Proposition 36, which would require treatment instead of incarceration for nonviolent drug offenders. The California legislative analysts' office has estimated it will save taxpayers $1.5 billion in five years in terms of reduced expenditures on maintenance and building of new prisons, while at the same time increasing by $120 million a year the money available for drug treatment. Now we're going to do the whole thing over again in Los Angeles in two weeks when the Democrats meet, and there we'll have the mayor of Salt Lake City speaking. And Campbell and Johnson will both be there as well. NR: If you had a private audience with George W. Bush to discuss the drug war, what would you say? Nadelmann: I would suggest to him that the public, including Republicans, are a little more nuanced and a little more open to reform than he probably realizes. It's not just the libertarians he bumps into advocating legalization, that actually it would be in his interest (and I would say this to both candidates), to do more intensive polling on issues like treatment instead of incarceration and on medical marijuana. I think that both candidates would find that not only do they not need to demagogue on these issues, but there might be some political advantage to campaigning on them, or at least integrating them into their broader plans. I'm not looking to either of those candidates to get out ahead of the curve on this issue. It's hard to believe that either of them is going to show any leadership on this. But I do think that if they want to look carefully, they'll find that things aren't the same as they were ten years ago. There is a shift in sentiment, and people aren't responding to the same old drug-war rhetoric the way they used to. Direct Link To Above Article:http://www.nationalreview.com/convention/interrogatory/interrogatory080300b.shtmlNote: Ethan Nadelmann is executive director of the Lindesmith Center- Drug Policy Foundation, which was one of the hosts of this week's Shadow Convention in Philadelphia. http://www.drugpolicy.org/Contact Information: http://www.nationalreview.com/contact/contact.htmlPublished: August 3, 2000National Review Phone: 212-679-7330 215 Lexington Avenue New YorkNew York 10016 Related Articles & Web Sites:The Shadow Conventionshttp://www.shadowconventions.com/Shadow Conventionshttp://www.lindesmith.org/shadowconventions/Shadow Convention 2000 News Boardhttp://homepages.go.com/~marthag1/Shadcon.htmMapInc. Articles On The Shadow Conventions:http://mapinc.org/shadow.htm CannabisNews Articles On The Shadow Conventions:http://cannabisnews.com/thcgi/search.pl?K=shadow 
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