Pubdate: Sat, 21 Sep 2002
Source: Daily Southtown (IL)
Copyright: 2002 Daily Southtown
Contact:  http://www.dailysouthtown.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/810
Note: Originally published in The Star Tribune, Minneapolis

SHOULD IT MATTER THAT DRUG WAR IS FAILING?

Since a smaller share of Americans are breaking the law than at any time 
since the 1970s, who's being locked up?

The answer, of course, is drug addicts - most of them imprisoned under 
mandatory minimum-sentencing laws enacted two decades back. In 1980, there 
were about 42,000 drug offenders in America's prisons and jails; now the 
number is nearing half a million.

Imprisoning drug offenders might make sense if it worked to squelch drug 
abuse, but it doesn't. States that boost drug-offender incarceration rates 
typically experience a jump in drug use. Worse, the drug kingpins that 
mandatory minimums were created to disable don't seem to be the ones 
feeling the sting. Most of America's drug inmates are low-level users or 
penny-ante street dealers; only about a tenth qualify as big-time dealers.

Shouldn't this matter - that the drug war isn't working? No matter how many 
smugglers the feds find or crack houses the cops raid, the motivated addict 
somehow can still find a fix.

Skeptical people are right to wonder: Why is this nation so eager to fight 
a futile war, and so reluctant to opt for demand-control tactics that could 
actually have an effect? Evidence shows that the surest and cheapest way to 
diminish drug abuse is to help kids steer clear of it and to provide 
treatment to those already in its grip. Even so, only 4 cents of every 
anti-drug dollar is spent on prevention and treatment.

The Star Tribune, Minneapolis
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom