Now, in 2008 we’re facing another economic crisis. Our current prohibition, known as the War on Drugs is having the same results as the prior alcohol prohibition: black market sales at high prices, increased crime, disease, death and addiction and no lessening of the problem! Not only that, but the government has its own financial problems again, just as before, after promising the world to many. How to pay for it? See the interesting correlation between then and now?

Criminal Justice Policy Foundation President Eric Sterling does an excellent job of spelling all this out in his recent article in the Huffington Post. Read his excellent piece and then, if you will and you see the problem with our current drug policy, sit down and write or call your Congressional representatives and U.S. Senators and ask that they do something to get an effective drug policy – not one that turns us into the world’s biggest holder of prisoners (5% of the world’s population, 25% of the world’s imprisoned people).

While you’re at it, thank Mr. Sterling for his timeless and selfless efforts for the cause of drug reform.

Happy Holidays, all. May your future be bright and, hopefully, less threatening than it is now. Thanks for your support – lets make some noise out there!

The big news here is that more – far, far more – people are dying from use of the legal drugs than from the illegal drugs!

“An analysis of autopsies in 2007 released [recently] by the Florida Medical Examiners Commission found that the rate of deaths caused by prescription drugs was three times the rate of deaths caused by all illicit drugs combined”, Cave reports in his article. Analysis of 168,900 deaths statewide showed that cocaine, heroin and all methamphetamines caused 989 deaths while legal opioids (strong painkillers in brand-name drugs like Vicodin and OxyContin) caused 2,328. Drugs with benzodiazepine, mainly depressants like Valium and Xanax, led to 743 deaths. Alcohol was the most commonly occurring drug, appearing in the bodies of 4,179 of the dead and judged the cause of death of 466, fewer than cocaine (843), more than methamphetamine (25) and marijuana (0).

This has not escaped the attention of ever-watchful law enforcement officials. Their answer is, of course, “the shift toward prescription-drug abuse, which began…about eight years ago, show(s) no sign of letting up and…the state must do more to control it.”

The article goes on: “You have health care providers involved, you have doctor shoppers, and then there are crimes like robbing drug shipments”, said Jeff Beasley, a drug intelligence inspector for the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, which co-sponsored the study. “There is a multitude of ways to get these drugs, and that¹s what makes things complicated.”

The report’s findings mirror similar studies by the DEA, which found that roughly seven million Americans are abusing prescription drugs. If accurate, that would be an increase of 80 percent in six years and more than the total number abusing cocaine, heroin, hallucinogens, Ecstasy and inhalants.

The prescription drug abuse problem has “reached epidemic proportions”, according to Sergeant Lisa McElhaney of the Broward County Sheriff Department’s pharmaceutical drug diversion unit. What does this tell us? It speaks volumes about human nature – that there are among us those who will always find a need for something to abuse to soothe whatever demons or desires they have. No public attitude or law is going to stop them. They will find a way, and there will always be someone to help them for a profit.

Legislating against what cannot be stopped results in what we have – a lot of prisons with a whole lot of people inside who may have hurt, or harmed, only themselves. They are doing time for having a bad habit – while others with other bad habits, which are ultimately more costly to the system, are not imprisoned. Even though their bad habits (alcohol, tobacco, abuse of “legal” drugs) cost more lives than illegal drug use does.

Perhaps, instead of thinking more control (laws), we should think more in terms of finding a way to actually reduce substance abuse – to help those who have trouble helping themselves (if they really need help). Let our leaders take a hint from the Netherlands, who have successfully reduced crime, disease, addiction, unemployment, homelessness – or from the Brits who have had recommended to them that they look at the matter more as a health and social problem and less as a criminal problem. Or, maybe, our state and national leaders could just pay attention to our local leaders – the US Conference of Mayors – who last year recommended the same thing to our country in a unanimous vote of 225 elected city leaders meeting together.

The late economist Milton Friedman said, "Can any policy, however high-minded, be moral if it leads to widespread corruption, imprisons so many, has so racist an effect, destroys our inner cities, wreaks havoc on misguided and vulnerable individuals and brings death and destruction to foreign countries?”

After all, we do call ourselves civilized.

That’s right – LEAP’s first ever billboard – now showing at 108th and I street in Omaha, Nebraska. It is up high, where many can see it, and it shows a new website for us which we can use to measure response and effectiveness.

It will be there three months and then will move around the city to other locations for additional three month periods for at least a year – all thanks to LEAP supporter and donor Melanie Marshall.

I was in Omaha to assist with the unveiling of the billboard via an on-air interview with talk-show host Scott Vorhees of Omaha’s superstation KFAB (1110 AM).

While in Omaha July 17 and 18, I also spoke at three Kiwanis Club meetings, wrote an Op-Ed on the War on Drugs which was published Friday, July 18 in Omaha’s World-Herald, did an interview with the Bellevue Leader weekly and, along with Melanie and her husband, spoke with Omaha’s US Congressman Lee Terry about the Drug War.

It was a great, productive two days – in a city we hadn’t been to before. Again, thanks, Melanie!

Oh, one other thing- directly across the street from our billboard is another sign, pointing out the Nebraska Highway Patrol's Troop A Headquarters.

Tony Ryan

The duo (Seth Rogen and James Franco) walked up to the mike for the presentation and proceeded to carry on with a script, a fake bag of marijuana and a huge fake "fatty joint", (which they lit and acted as if they were smoking) they claim was all provided by MTV.

MTV, it seems, had second thoughts about the stunt – even, according to the article, telling the "pot head" actors not to go through with it. But, when they did, the cameras suddenly went wide-angle and stayed that way until they left the stage.

Rogen and Franco thought the whole thing was a cool joke promoting their upcoming movie, allegedly about two "potheads" who witness a cop commit a murder. But, it’s still under production and said the cameras pulling back from their "marijuana smoking" live performance ruined the joke.

The point of all this is…..what? A last second change of mind/heart/plan just short of the Vaudevillian hooked cane-jerk off stage, or the Gong Show’s GOOONGGGG!, because someone suddenly thought there could be accusations of promoting drug use?

Maybe, unintentionally (just like the many consequences of our disastrous war on drugs) they realized they were about to trivialize the problems of drug use/abuse for a possible laugh. It would be just like what used to be done on the Dean Martin show when he seemed to be consuming martinis while emceeing his variety show, playing on his alleged alcoholism. All an act, they say. It was funny, but it did trivialize a real problem in our world back when drinking, partying and then driving home was thought to be funny and the subject of bragging unless someone died as a result.

Later, our country came to its senses about the ills of alcohol abuse. Having lived through alcohol prohibition and its unintended bad effects, we found a way to minimize the problem by treating it as a health and social problem.

So, maybe this televised faux pas will serve to help us come to the same realization about our current prohibition, which has lasted three times longer than the prior one. Maybe we can stop already with the fakery about the evils of marijuana. Maybe we can come to terms with the idea of changing the policy to something like we did with alcohol problems and do some good for the country and our population. Maybe. Otherwise, it was just another dumb TV moment.

So, what is it all really about, this assassination of law enforcement officials? I submit it is about greed - greed for the ludicrous profit made by sending illegal substances to the U.S. for black market money. Illegal substances willingly purchased by a clientele who wants them – even if they are illegal.

Mexico isn’t the only country suffering this violence over profits to be made selling substances to willing buyers in our country. It happens in South American countries, European countries and elsewhere.

All this violence around the world because of a monumentally failed 38-year policy started in our country – the War on Drugs. The violence is just one of the many negative outcomes of this policy. And our government, like a dog that has been playing tug-of-war with a sock and won’t quit even after its master has walked away, continues the travesty. The price keeps rising – over a trillion dollars, now.

We at LEAP believe the answer to solving the problem and vastly reducing the harm of this horrid policy is simplicity itself.

The end of death, disease, crime and addiction related to illegal drugs comes with the end of the drug war, and the development of a policy that recognizes drug abuse is a health and social problem and needs to be dealt with as such.

I guess one could say it’s so simple no one can figure it out. Its too bad, just too bad.