Pubdate: Fri, 12 Jan 2001
Source: Des Moines Register (IA)
Copyright: 2001 The Des Moines Register.
Contact:  P.O. Box 957, Des Moines IA 50304-0957
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Author: Robert Sharpe

IT'S TIME TO RETHINK THE FAILED DRUG WAR

Regarding Iowa's seemingly discriminatory incarceration patterns: The 
drug war is arguably waged in a racist manner throughout the nation, 
with blacks bearing the brunt of zero-tolerance law enforcement.

Although only 15 percent of the nation's drug users are black, blacks 
account for 37 percent of those arrested for drug violations, more 
than 42 percent of those in federal prisons for drug violations, and 
almost 60 percent of those in state prisons for drug felonies.

Violent crime continues to, trend downward, yet the Land of the Free 
recently earned the dubious distinction of having the highest 
incarceration rate in the world, with drug offenses accounting for 
the majority of federal incarcerations.

Support for the failed drug war would end overnight if whites were 
incarcerated for drug offenses at the same rates as blacks. Racially 
disproportionate incarceration rates are not the only cause for alarm.

Our taxes are financing for-profit prison systems that serve to 
transmit violent habits and values rather than reduce them.

Rather than waste scarce resources turning potentially productive 
members of society with drug problems into hardened criminals, we 
should be funding cost effective treatment. It's time to rethink the 
failed drug war and start treating all substance abuse - legal or 
otherwise - as the public-health problem that it is.

- -Robert Sharpe,

program officer, Lindesmith Center - Drug Policy Foundation, 4455 
Connecticut Ave. N.W., Washington, D.C.
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