The phrase was officially retired from the public lexicon by drug czar Gil Kerlikowske during a recent interview with the Wall Street Journal.

Kerlikowske, the former Police Chief of Seattle and current head of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, blamed the “war on drugs” mentality for impeding the country’s progress in dealing with illegal drugs. “Regardless of how you try to explain to people it’s a ‘war on drugs’ or a ‘war on a product,’ people see a war as a war on them,” Kerlikowske said.

The Government’s semantic shift is part of a new vision for U.S. drug policy – a vision that emphasizes rehabilitating drug users instead of imprisoning them.

Although Kerlikowske and the Obama Administration may have a vision of what 21^st century drug policy should look like, they now lack a catch phrase for Americans to rally around. With “fight,” “war,” “battle,” “struggle,” “throw-down,” and “confrontation” all officially out as possible ways to describe America’s anti-drug efforts, the country may find itself unable to simply name the problem, much less solve it.

So, now, the Government not only has a drug problem, it also has a marketing problem.

And, who better to solve a marketing problem than corporate America?

Amazon - free super-saver shipping for a super drug-free America.

For years, corporations have successfully convinced unsuspecting Americans to purchase items they don’t need with money they don’t have. Alcohol and tobacco companies even have experience trying to convince the public not to use their products.

This marketing know-how could just as easily be used to rebrand our nation’s drug efforts.

Imagine – a Drug Free America, Delivered by UPS or how about Wal-Mart’s “Always Low Prices, Never High Associates.”

If corporate America joined the Government’s nameless anti-drug effort, we might see Taco Bell urging people to “Think Outside the Bong.” We may even see Verizon Wireless boasting that they have the nation’s biggest drug-free network. Can you “say no” now?

By enlisting America’s finest businesses to shape the public perception of America’s biggest problem, the Obama administration may be able to keep the next 40 years of drug policy from looking like the 40 years that preceded it.

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