In case you thought the U.S. would be too busy fighting the war on terror to continue the war on drugs, think again. The war on drugs was fought all through the war on communism, after all. The Bush administration (U.S.) recently appointed a new drug czar to take on the responsibilities of the war on drugs. The choice of John Walters indicates no end in sight for treating drug use as a moral issue and treating it with punishment. <a href="http://www.motherjones.com/">Mother Jones</a> published <a href="http://www.motherjones.com/web_exclusives/commentary/opinion/walters.html">America's Lonely Drug War</a> on Dec 14, 2001, discussing the disparity between the approach the U.S. takes toward drugs and the path chosen by the rest of the world. This trend in the U.S. is seemingly in direct contrast to the will of the people: <span class="quote"><q>Over the past five years, Americans have voted in favor of nearly every significant state initiative to reform drug policies, from legalizing medical marijuana in Arizona, to banning the seizure of assets of accused but unconvicted drug dealers in Oregon, to last year's Proposition 36 in California which mandates treatment instead of incarceration for drug users.</q></span> Most of Europe has legalized or will legalize 'soft' drugs, like pills and marijuana. Needle exchange progams are commonplace and are proven effective in minimizing the spread of HIV and other drug-use related diseases. In the U.S., the supreme court several months ago overturned several local laws allowing the use of marijuana for medical purposes. John Walters is opposed to needle-exchange programs, despite their proven efficacy. He's in favor of "pushing back" and escalating the drug war, even in the face of it's proven <i>uneffectiveness</i>. What is the purpose of the continuation of the 'drug war'? It's not working. It never worked. Perhaps the administration has different goals in mind. <span class="quote"><q>In Europe, the drug problem is viewed as a collection of consequences --- AIDS, crime, addiction --- which must be dealt with. Not so here, where we tend to look at drug use and intoxication as a moral issue," says Eric Sterling, president of the Washington, D.C.-based Criminal Justice Policy Foundation "We justify the most destructive and least effective of our drug policies as somehow sending an important message to our children.</q></span> Meanwhile, despite the hard line on drugs domestically, the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com">NY Times</a> reports that our newest allies, the Northern Alliance of Afghanistan, are preparing for a <a href="http://query.nytimes.com/search/abstract?res=F30C11FC3A5E0C758EDDA80994D9404482">bumper spring crop of poppies</a>. <span class="quote"><q>Afghan farmers prepare to resume cultivation of opium poppies, which were banned by Taliban, saying there is not enough profit in growing other crops to make living</q></span>