One Damn Fine Editor Speaks On The War On Drugs

From the desk of the Atlantic's James Gibney:

The war on drugs not only wastes law-enforcement resources, it also corrodes our respect for the law in general. Using a relatively benign drug like marijuana should become a regulated pastime, indulged in by consenting adults, much like drinking alcohol or gambling. Drunk driving kills more than 17,000 people each year, and 3 percent of the U.S. population meets the criteria for "problem gamblers." But no one talks seriously about reviving the 18th Amendment or shuttering Las Vegas and Atlantic City. Why? Because Prohibition taught us that banning such activities creates a nation of lawbreakers and a popular culture that exalts criminality. Costly, dubious, and ineffective legal strictures just end up undermining the social compact they're intended to reinforce.

He's responding to a cocaine bust out at San Diego State University. Of course he ends by saying the law as the law and claiming little sympathy for the "can't-we-all-just-do-a-bong" crowd. Heh. I resemble that remark.