Pubdate: Fri, 23 Apr 2010
Source: Santa Barbara Independent, The (CA)
Copyright: 2010 The Santa Barbara Independent, Inc.
Contact:  http://www.independent.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/4348

LEGALIZATION, LIBERTY, AND INCARCERATION

Speakers at ACLU Forum Advocate to End the War on Drugs

ACLU's Santa Barbara chapter held a forum Wednesday evening on civil 
liberties, incarceration, and legalization of drugs.

Around 50 people -- ranging from doctors and professors to teenagers 
and hippie leftovers -- gathered in the downtown public library to 
join in the debate. Approaching the issue from a variety of angles, 
speakers Kyle Kazan, Damien Schnyder, and Suzanne Riordan argued that 
the legalization of illicit substances is the most just, logical, and 
potentially beneficent course of action regarding the contentious issue.

The speakers urged for legalization and decriminalization, as well as 
efforts toward preventative education and treatment programs, in 
order to end the War on Drugs and stop what they described as the 
waste and injustice that's characterized the conflict.

Referencing countries that have experimented with legalization, they 
discussed potential merits with this course of action.

In Portugal, for instance, legalization has actually decreased drug 
use and the dangers thereof, as the products are regulated and 
distributed by governmental agencies.

There have been massive declines in crime, HIV, overdoses, and 
overall use of heroin, and a larger percentage of U.S. kids smoke pot 
than in countries where marijuana is legal.

It has been argued that legalization will increase general use, but 
evidence says otherwise, and as Kazan queried, "Are you going to try 
meth if I tell you it's legal?"

Kazan spoke on behalf of LEAP, Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, a 
group which consists mainly of police officers, judges, and district 
attorneys who have retired and advocate the legalization of illicit 
substances. Kazan, an ex-cop, said that legalization is the most 
reasonable course of action, despite his personal dislike of drugs. 
Kazan said that the War on Drugs, a phrase coined in the Nixon Era, 
simply does not work, and that it is "insane to do the same thing 
continually and expect different results."

He traced the history of drug legality from 1914 -- when even heroin 
could be bought at the market -- to today, and showed that despite 
the degree of permissibility, roughly 1.3 percent of the population 
will fall prey to addiction.

He lamented the billions of dollars consumed by the War on Drugs, the 
billions poured into prisons, and the trillion thrifted away in the 
name of prosecution -- all to no effect, save the rocketing prison 
populations, much of which consists of nonviolent drug offenders. 
Meanwhile, the black market thrives while the rest of the economy is 
in tatters.

The purity of drugs, he said, has increased since the seventies, 
while the cost has dropped, and in Los Angeles, there are more 
marijuana dispensaries than there are Starbucks, though marijuana use 
is ostensibly illegal.

Damien Schnyder, an urban anthropologist, discussed the War on Drugs 
in terms of racial conflict.

He argued that it was an effort to control people of color who 
threaten the established system because they are traditionally less 
included, and thus invest less of themselves into it. He said that 
this freedom is countered with various prejudicial handicaps. He gave 
examples of black men sent to prison for possessing a modicum of 
marijuana, or another illicit substance, and pointed out that 
profiling is encouraged in police work, which puts people of color at 
an automatic disadvantage. In fact, he was pulled over by a police 
officer right before he arrived at the forum, he said.

Suzanne Riordan, a Santa Barbara mother who lost her son to drugs, 
criticized the quality of the current, punishment-based approach, and 
instead urged for one based on understanding. She said that most 
users suffer from emotional imbalances, insecurities, and are 
generally fragile -- so they gravitate towards drugs -- and while 
they need help, they are instead jailed.

Furthermore, because of a lack of adequate treatment options, jail is 
often the best choice. "Unless we get to the causes of these 
problems, we're never going to solve anything," she said.

Each speaker conceded that drug use is not the most effective way to 
deal with anything -- but they argued that the way in which policy 
deals with drugs is even more detrimental. It's clear that a change 
must come about. 
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake