Pubdate: Sun, 10 Jun 2007 Source: New York Times (NY) Copyright: 2007 The New York Times Company Contact: http://www.nytimes.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/298 Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07/n000/a134.html Author: Tony Newman A BRONX RESTAURANT WITH A DRUG PROBLEM To the Editor: Emily Brady's Street Level column about the drug dealing at a Kennedy Fried Chicken in the Bronx ("A Corner Once Sunny, Made Dreary by Drugs," June 3) was disturbing and depressing. It is disturbing that the mother featured in the column is afraid for her children's safety while they eat their meal. It is depressing because the current strategies employed by our country to address the drug-dealing problems are destined to fail. The conventional wisdom is to call for more police to crack down on the drug dealers and send them away to prison for many years. The problem is that we have tried this failing strategy for 30-plus years, starting with the Rockefeller drug laws. These draconian laws have not delivered on their promise to rid our streets of drugs or keep people from using them. A more difficult but effective strategy would be to create decent paying jobs for those youth in the Bronx who are selling drugs, and to offer treatment instead of jail for those struggling with addiction. When half of the adult black males in New York don't have jobs and there are long waiting lists at treatment centers, we are destined to have "once sunny" corners turned into dangerous and "dreary" places. Tony Newman Midtown The writer is communications director, Drug Policy Alliance. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake