America''s new touchy-feely "war on drugs"

KALAMAZOO, Mich (Reuters) - In Stephen Gorsalitz''s courtroom, you could be forgiven for thinking you''ve stumbled into a rehab clinic like the Betty Ford Center.

After Jensen, 38, announces that she has been drug free for seven months, the court bursts into warm applause.

"I am pleased with your progress," Gorsalitz says. "And I see you managed not to cry this time," he adds with a smile.

This is certainly not what U.S. President Richard Nixon had in mind when he declared a "War on Drugs" in 1971. But four decades and billions of dollars later, this war -- based on law enforcement and a crackdown on production, distribution and consumption -- has produced unspectacular results, at best.

So more and more states have been turning to alternative approaches like drug courts, which target consumption among probationers using a combination of frequent tests, the threat of jail time and plenty of moral encouragement.

And it seems to be working. Over the past 20 years drug courts have cut crime rates and proved far cheaper than prison. They are also expected to be part of a drug strategy report the administration of U.S. President Barack Obama is due to issue in February.

"We''re going to go with what works best," said Gil Kerlikowske, director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, more commonly called the Drug Czar. "That includes looking at solutions like drug courts."

The other notable shift taking place today centers on marijuana policy. At a time of soaring deficits, more states are seeking to decriminalize marijuana, at least in medical use. Today, more than a dozen states allow the sale of pot to the sick.

"The states are broke, the criminal justice systems in the states are overflowing with prisoners, as in California, and they cannot afford to keep on putting people in jail for drug possession," said drug policy expert Joe Domanick, Associate Director of the Center on Media, Crime and Justice at John Jay College in New York. "They will still do it, but that is why Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger suggested we at least discuss the legalization and taxation of marijuana in California."

But don''t expect President Obama to join the push for legalization any time soon.

The administration has devoted fresh resources to curb violent traffickers from Mexico. Earlier this year both Obama and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano stated their support for Mexican efforts to crush the nation''s drug cartels and staunch overspill violence in the United States. That is a policy goal and unlikely to change.

"I don''t think that Obama is going to say, ''Okay, we''re going to legalize marijuana,''" said Domanick. "Maybe in the seventh year, the last year of his second term, if he''s got 80 percent approval ratings, otherwise it''s not going to happen."