Debate more than Healthcare and Iraq

I’m surprised I beat Education Guy to this, given that the Wire is one of his favorite shows, but the Wire writers put together a very powerful critique of the war on drugs here. They convincingly condemn the costs of the war on drugs — in terms of the direct expense of keeping 1% of our population and on the opportunity cost of directing law enforcement efforts at petty drug crimes and not at more serious offenses. They conclude:

If asked to serve on a jury deliberating a violation of state or federal drug laws, we will vote to acquit, regardless of the evidence presented. Save for a prosecution in which acts of violence or intended violence are alleged, we will — to borrow Justice Harry Blackmun's manifesto against the death penalty — no longer tinker with the machinery of the drug war. No longer can we collaborate with a government that uses nonviolent drug offenses to fill prisons with its poorest, most damaged and most desperate citizens.

While jury nullification is a unique attempt to solve this problem, I would doubt the Wire writers’ article will prevent a single conviction. After publishing this article, no sane prosecutor would allow one of the writers to sit on a drug offense jury. Similarly, prosecutors may ask prospective jurors whether they are opposed to convicting anyone of a drug crime. Unless large numbers of citizens are willing to lie in order to get onto juries, jury nullification is not going to be an effective means to change our nation’s drug policies.

I think the Wire writers recognize that this problem should instead be addressed in the political arena, but they see the failure of politics to yield any positive changes to our drug policies. They rightly note, “There aren't any politicians — Democrat or Republican — willing to speak truth on this.”

I would add — no politician Democrat or Republican — has been forced to speak truth on this issue. If there is another debate before Pennsylvania, let’s hope that it does not devolve into a rehashing of the same issues — extensive debate on the minutia on the marginal differences between the health care plans and the steps they will take to get out of Iraq (full disclosure: although I never supported going into Iraq and I support a sensible withdrawal, making detailed plans about leaving a year before taking office does not sound particularly responsible). Instead, let’s force candidates to take stands on issues like the war on drugs. By answering such questions we will know whether a candidate is willing to take an unpopular stand in order to do what is right.

-Law Dude