War On Drugs Loosening Up
The Watertown Daily Times points out that the cost of maintaining such a war is too great for America to shoulder.
The Wall Street Journal's pushes for the re-organization of American anti-drug efforts, arguing that closed-off trade routes through the Carribbean have caused drug lords to wreak havoc by traveling through Mexico.
And the Christian Science Monitor says that law enforcement is targeting illegal possession of guns instead of illegal possession of drugs, because it's more effective at reducing violent crime.
The Department of Justice recently condoned state laws that allow medical marijuana -- a full-fledged reversal of existing policy -- making Drug Policy Alliance communication director Tony Newman to conclude that 2009 was the beginning of the end for the drug war. Combine that with the Congressional mandate to end the ban on using government money for needle exchanges, and the Obama administration is clearly showing a more relaxed attitude towards drug use.
Some have hypothesized that Republicans may not be far behind, saying that the tea party movement has a more libertarian bent rather than a conservative bent. Therefore, the new, invigorated face of the Republican party could potentially be less concerned with anti-drug efforts than they are with issues of taxation, regulation, and abortion.