Pubdate: Sun, 02 Feb 2003
Source: Richmond Times-Dispatch (VA)
Copyright: 2003 Richmond Newspapers Inc.
Contact:  http://www.timesdispatch.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/365
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03/n088/a08.html
Author: Robert Sharpe
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/hr.htm (Harm Reduction)

NATION FIGHTS FAILED DRUG WAR

Editor, Times-Dispatch: Thank you for acknowledging the racial disparities 
in drug war enforcement in your editorial, "The Chief Speaks."

Blacks and whites use drugs at roughly the same rates. Far more drug deals 
occur in suburban basements than on Richmond streets. 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. Support for the failed drug war would end 
overnight if whites were incarcerated for drug offenses at the same rate as 
minorities.

Richmond Police Chief Andre Parker is faced with a Sisyphean task. 
So-called drug-related crime is invariably prohibition-related. With 
alcohol prohibition repealed, liquor bootleggers no longer gun each other 
down in drive-by shootings, nor do consumers go blind drinking unregulated 
bathtub gin. After years of waging a never-ending drug war, former Richmond 
Police Chief Jerry Oliver ultimately came to the conclusion that all 
substance abuse, legal or otherwise, is a public health problem and should 
be treated as such. Prison cells and criminal records don't cure addiction.

Robert Sharpe, Washington, D.C.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jackl