Pubdate: Mon, 21 May 2007
Source: Seattle Times (WA)
Copyright: 2007 The Seattle Times Company
Contact:  http://www.seattletimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/409
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07/n629/a08.html?31215
Author: Jerry Large
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/coke.htm (Cocaine)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/heroin.htm (Heroin)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)

DRUG CRISIS DEFIES EASY SOLUTIONS

One reader invited me to Hempfest; another called me a moron.

In Thursday's column, I wrote about a conversation I had with Larry 
Bobo, a leading expert on race and crime.

He's on a crusade to get people to rethink the war on drugs, which 
has driven the prison population to senseless levels and filled cells 
with black men in highly disproportionate numbers. Men come out of 
prison unrehabilitated and stigmatized. They can't get work, and most 
wind up back in custody.

"One could always not use the drugs," one reader wrote sarcastically. 
But most people raised sincere questions.

Personal responsibility is a good idea, but as public policy it takes 
some work.

More than one reader blamed our current situation on Nancy Reagan for 
telling her husband the answer is to "Just Say No."

The Reagan administration and the country adopted no-tolerance as 
national policy. In 1980, there were fewer then 300,000 people in 
prison in the U.S. Today, 2 million people are in prisons and jails.

The drug war drives that level of imprisonment.

The drug war began at a time when many of our cities were in economic 
distress. Jobs that people in those areas depended on were beginning 
to disappear. And the government was cutting back on programs that 
helped cities and poor people, including job-training programs.

Some readers cited that confluence of events as contributing to the 
racial imbalance in prisons. Blacks are imprisoned at a rate seven 
times that of white people.

Of course, there is one easy conclusion, which a number of people 
mentioned. Maybe black people just commit more crime.

The UW did a study of drug arrests in Seattle a few years ago that 
focused on heroin, methamphetamine and cocaine. By far most of the 
users and sellers in the city were white, but black people were being 
arrested in numbers out of proportion to their participation in the 
drug market.

Race is an issue, but a number of readers said class ought not to be ignored.

That's true. Money makes a difference. But, of course, there is a 
racial disparity in that area, too.

Nothing about the problem is simple. The answer to it can't be simple either.

People who have something to lose would be more likely to listen to 
all the messages out there about the dangers of drug use.

That's where we should start.

One reader wanted me to remind people that America's drug problem 
doesn't just hurt us.

Mexican gangs supplying drugs are so powerful that people there say 
the police are no match for them. This year, drug-related violence 
has already taken 1,000 lives.

Americans in law enforcement and the courts are looking for better solutions.

Politicians are beginning to realize something's broken, too.

Voters need to support them. Let them know we no longer think looking 
beyond easy answers is being soft on crime.
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman