by Robert B. Charles

About the author: Robert B. Charles served as chief of staff and chief counsel to the House Subcommittee on National Security, International Affairs, and Criminal Justice in 1997.

In America, you increasingly hear the tone of defeatism when the topic of drugs works its way into public conversation (as it will continue to do for some time). Common are phrases like “the drug war is unwinnable” and “what’s wrong with legalization, anyway.” Pundits and legalization advocates routinely (and somewhat gleefully) oscillate between two extremes, calling the drug war insoluble and treating drugs as no problem at all. The truth, on both counts, is quite different. I grew up in Maine, and have seen the impact of drugs there from Lewiston and Portland...