Pubdate: Mon, 19 Feb 2007
Source: Orlando Sentinel (FL)
Copyright: 2007 Orlando Sentinel
Contact:  http://www.orlandosentinel.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/325
Note: Rarely prints out-of-state LTEs.
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07/n183/a02.html
Author: Robert Sharpe

DRUG LAWS' EFFECT

Regarding Stephen Chapman's Feb. 13 op-ed piece: Mandatory minimum 
prison sentences have done little other than give the land of the 
free the highest incarceration rate in the world. The deterrent value 
of tough drug laws is grossly overrated.

During the crack epidemic of the '80s, New York City chose the 
zero-tolerance approach, opting to arrest and prosecute as many 
offenders as possible. Meanwhile, Washington, D.C., Mayor Marion 
Barry was smoking crack and America's capital had the highest per 
capita murder rate in the country. Yet crack use declined in both 
cities simultaneously.

The decline was not due to a slick anti-drug advertising campaign or 
the passage of mandatory minimum sentencing laws. Simply put, the 
younger generation saw firsthand what crack was doing to their older 
siblings and decided for themselves that crack was bad news.

This is not to say nothing can be done about hard drugs like crack or 
methamphetamine, the latest headline grabber. Access to 
substance-abuse treatment is critical. Diverting resources away from 
prisons and into cost-effective treatment would save both tax dollars 
and lives.

Robert Sharpe

Policy Analyst

Common Sense for Drug Policy

Washington, D.C. 
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman