Washblog

The King County Bar Association kicked off its Drug Policy Project over four years ago and produced a report last year that was groundbreaking.  It challenged the current rationales behind drug prohibition and provided a framework for moving forward with a better strategy to reduce drug abuse and the crime that surrounds the drug trade.  The backing of one of the nation's largest legal groups gave the drug law reform movement another level of legitimacy and a more credible platform for working with lawmakers wary of how this issue would appear to an electorate that still has many long-entrenched misconceptions about drugs and drug abuse.

In the most recent legislative session in Washington State, bills were introduced in both the State House and Senate to set up a commission to evaluate the current approach to dealing with psychoactive substances.  Both bills passed out of committee, but did not make it through appropriations.  In 2007, the effort will continue with the hopes of getting Governor Gregoire on board.  The Governor has somewhat of a mixed record on this issue, but I've grown more confident in her approach to it than in 2004 when her silence on the issue (she was the State's Attorney General) really turned me off to her campaign.  

The KCBA is also working with the Department of Social and Health Services in Washington State to increase funding for the voluntary treatment system as an alternative to the criminal justice system.  This approach that has proven to be both effective and cost-efficient.  They've also set up several working groups to interact with the community and try to break down some of the misconceptions associated with this issue.

The man who's been behind all of this is Roger Goodman, who is announcing on Monday that he is running for a seat in the State House from his district in suburban Seattle.  The focus of his campaign will not be drug law reform, as his district deals with bigger issues like transportation headaches and difficulties with health care, but having someone with his background in the legislature is a giant step forward for those of us who want Washington State to move closer to a more effective system of drug control; one where children no longer have easy access to illegal drugs, where minorities aren't funneled into prisons for crimes that whites get away with, and where crime (especially auto theft and property crime) is not rampant due to the existence of large black markets and the artificially high prices for psychoactive substances.