War on Drugs

Quietly, free of headlines and fanfare, the Obama White House is toning down the bellicose “war-on-drugs” position that has defined U.S. narcotics policy for the last 25 years. In Vienna last week for the 53rd annual United Nations meeting on global drug policy, administration officials shifted from attacking drug use as a crime to be penalized and moved toward a strategy of tackling addiction as an illness to be treated, a number of health and human rights advocates who attended the event said.

Three Grand Junction Republican state lawmakers are standing their ground with a vow to fight to the end against meth, except Senate Minority Leader Josh Penry may want to reconsider the Alamo-inspired drug war battle cry. The 33-year-old politician could be collecting government retirement benefits before ever holding a victory parade — Colorado ranks eighth in the nation in per-capita methamphetamine use.