Like the endless quagmire of Vietnam left for Richard Nixon, President Clinton's drug war leaves a legacy of victims but no victory.

Clinton got a splash of publicity for his token release of four women and a man from prison -- a grand total of five out of America's 400,000 nonviolent drug convicts.

In June, the international group Human Rights Watch issued a major study finding that America's war on drugs has been waged overwhelmingly against black people.

The group said that five times as many white people as black people use drugs but black men are sent to state prisons at 13 times the rate of white men. Hispanics are also jailed in hugely disproportionate numbers.

Drug-war supporters should get this straight: The one and only reason for turf battles and addicts' thievery is that making dope illegal means higher prices for dope. Most alcoholics and nicotine fiends don't steal to support their harmful habits.

Now, Clinton and his accomplices in Congress have arranged for $1.3 billion of our tax money to be sent to the notorious thugs in the army of Colombia.

As ugly as our drug war is, it's a schoolyard spat compared to the 35-year civil war in Colombia, which is hopelessly entangled with the drug trade. A July 14 article in The New York Times recounts the February massacre of at least 36 persons in a Colombian village, carried out with the knowledge and complicity of the army by their paramilitary pals.

Not satisfied with guns and helicopters, Clinton wanted to add to the arsenal use of a fungus to combat coca. Colombia refused.

Here in "the land of the free," the drug warriors are out of control in many ways. An investigation by The Kansas City Star found that in every one of two dozen states investigated, law enforcement agencies are deliberately circumventing state laws restricting asset forfeiture or dodging requirements that seized funds be used for drug education and treatment.

That's on top of unconstitutional seizures before suspects are even charged, much less convicted.

The spirit of American freedom has taken a beating throughout the drug war and the hypocrisy is starkly cruel. "Slick Willie" has been known to like a drink and cigar (sometimes even for smoking). But he presides over imprisoning those with alternative habits that have been criminalized.

Of course, those habits are unhealthy. Of course, we don't want our children getting hooked. But should we trash the Constitution and wage war on an entire race to control people's private habits?

It goes beyond persecution of personal proclivities. Our federal government has tried to nullify voter initiatives passed by seven states to allow medical use of marijuana. The results can be tragic.

Best-selling author Peter McWilliams, suffering AIDS and cancer, died last month from choking on his own vomit. McWilliams was free on bail in California for his use of marijuana to ease the nausea caused by chemotherapy. Authorities had threatened to seize his elderly mother's home (the bail security) if McWilliams was caught with marijuana, so he was

forced into a fatal endurance of the extreme nausea that such patients say can only be relieved with marijuana.

This summer the drug war will come into sharp focus with the so-called "Shadow Conventions" to be held alongside the political confabs. As the Democratic and Republican parties nominate one confirmed and one suspected illegal drug user for president, authors and experts in the field of drug policy will meet to engage voters in the debate.

Campaign-finance reform and poverty will also be spotlighted at these alternative conventions. For more information, visit shadowconventions.com and drcnet.org.

Although politicians prefer such policies as "zero tolerance," the truth is that people on hard drugs need treatment for recovery, not prison, which only hardens addicts into criminals. Many treatment centers could be operated with that billion bucks we're paying to a corrupt Colombia.

In our culture's Judeo-Christian custom, 2000 is a jubilee year, a time to forgive debt and free prisoners. Let's keep the violent cons locked up, but for our drug prisoners, get them help instead.

KC Star columnist Frank Lingo's column appears on alternate Tuesdays. To reach him, send e-mail to lingo@earthvote.net.

© 2000 The Kansas City Star

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