Pubdate: Thu, 26 Apr 2007
Source: Garden Island (Lihue, HI)
Copyright: 2007 Kauai Publishing Co.
Contact:  http://kauaiworld.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/964
Author: Jason Nichols

DRUG POLICIES UNSUCCESSFUL

The "War on Drugs" is a social travesty.

Let's see, drugs are illegal. Yet, our beloved C.I.A. was running 
cocaine into the United States for years during the '80s. This is a 
fact that was revealed during the Iran-Contra hearings. Most of the 
drugs ended up in inner cities with populations made up mostly of 
poor whites and minorities. Not surprisingly, American prisons began 
to fill up at an alarming rate.

What was the response from our government? Build more prisons. Under 
the radar, some states like Texas, passed laws that allowed the new 
prisons to be "For Profit" prisons. More than half of the prisoners 
were non-violent, minority drug offenders doing forced labor so that 
old white men could get rich. Where have I heard about this before? 
Oh yes, in history class, it was called slavery! Texas now imports 
prisoners from other states, including Hawai'i, to keep its modern 
slavery system running. The United States passed Russia a few years 
ago, for the lead in the race to incarcerate. More than half of the 
prisoners are still non-violent drug offenders.

The ramifications on American society, from this "war on drugs" are 
enormous. We can look at Sweden, Norway, and Holland for more 
successful drug policies or we can continue with legalized slavery 
for another 400 years.

Jason Nichols

Koloa
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MAP posted-by: Elaine