Pubdate: Mon, 07 Aug 2000 Date: 08/07/2000 Source: Business Week (US) Author: Robert Sharpe, and Keith Brilhart Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n971/a05.html ''TOUGH JUSTICE'': A RACIST WASTE OF MONEY AND LIVES? Much of the police crackdown on inner-city crime involves a crackdown on people associated with illegal drugs in some way. If these people were not subjected to police actions because the drugs were legally regulated, and if drug use were treated similarly to alcohol and tobacco use, crime would drop dramatically, and the costs to society would plummet. Instead, we have handed a monopoly to organized crime, ruined many lives, and drawn unflattering international attention to ourselves because of our astronomical incarceration rate. Rather than treat those who seek treatment to get off drugs and leave the rest alone, we dispense a brutal solution to their problems and in turn create greater problems for society. Keith Brilhart, Decatur, Ill.