Pubdate: Wed, 05 Mar 2008
Source: Hudson Valley Press, The (NY)
Copyright: 2008 The Hudson Valley Press
Contact:  http://www.hvpress.net/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/4638
Author: Robert Sharpe
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v08/n203/a04.html

IT'S TIME TO DECLARE PEACE IN THE FAILED "DRUG WAR"

Regarding George Curry's thoughtful Feb. 20th column, the drug war 
has been waged in a racist manner since its inception. The Harrison 
Narcotics Act of 1914 was preceded by a wave of anti-immigrant 
sentiment. Opium was identified with Chinese laborers, marijuana with 
Mexicans and cocaine with African-Americans. Racial profiling 
continues to be the norm in the 21st Century, despite similar rates 
of drug use for minorities and whites. Support for the drug war would 
end overnight if whites were incarcerated for drugs at the same rate 
as minorities. The drug war is a cultural inquisition, not a public 
health campaign.

Prison cells are inappropriate as health interventions and 
ineffective as deterrents. It's time to declare peace in the failed 
drug war and begin treating all substance abuse, legal or otherwise, 
as the public health problem it is. Thanks to public education 
efforts, legal tobacco use has declined considerably in recent years. 
Apparently mandatory minimum prison sentences, civil asset 
forfeiture, random drug testing and racial profiling are not 
necessarily the most cost-effective means of discouraging unhealthy choices.

Drug abuse is bad, but the drug war is worse.

Robert Sharpe, MPA Policy Analyst Common Sense for Drug Policy
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