Pubdate: Sun, 20 Jul 2008 Source: Reporter, The (Vacaville, CA) Copyright: 2008 The Reporter Contact: http://www.thereporter.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/472 Author: Robert Sharpe Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v08/n683/a01.html JAILHOUSE BLUES A question of following the money California may well be the worst case example of a prison-industrial complex gone wild ("Prison games," The Reporter, July 13). For decades, entrenched interests have dominated the drug policy debate. As a result, state budgets favor incarceration over education. Prison guard unions and for-profit prisons fund the campaigns of politicians willing to support mandatory minimum sentencing and zero-tolerance drug laws. Both major parties are guilty of feeding at the prison-industrial complex trough. This is the business approach to drug policy. The more citizens behind bars, the more money the prison industry makes. Taxpayers foot the bill for the record number of nonviolent offenders behind bars. Thanks to public education, 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. Robert Sharpe, analyst, Common Sense for Drug Policy Washington, D.C. - --- MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin