In prison, languishing, but not without hope, is Dorothy Gaines. Gaines, you may recall, is among the 80,000 or so of our fellow Americans serving time in federal prison as a drug offender. Throw in all those convicted of drug law violations in state prisons and the number of drug offenders incarcerated across these United States climbs to about 500,000 - a tenfold increase compared to the number behind bars for drug offenses in 1980. Gaines was charged with "conspiracy" to possess and distribute crack cocaine. She was convicted on the testimony of drug dealers who testified against her to reduce their own prison sentences. [continues 667 words]
No doubt, we are losing the "war on drugs." That's because the "war" is unwinnable. What other conclusion can you reach after assessing it all - from a military standpoint, that is? "Drug warriors do not wish to acknowledge that their 'war' cannot be won. Let us look at the military factors of space, time and manpower," writes Joseph Miranda, former instructor at the U.S. Army JFK Special Warfare Center and editor of Strategy and Tactics magazine. He then proceeds to explain why it is that "nowhere in prohibition advocates' literature can one find a realistic analysis of the armed forces required to successfully interdict drug trafficking. The reason such an analysis cannot be found is quite simple: The mission itself is impossible." [continues 626 words]
No doubt, we are losing the "war on drugs." That's because the "war" is un-winnable. What other conclusion can you reach after assessing it all - from a military standpoint, that is? "Drug warriors do not wish to acknowledge that their 'war' cannot be won. Let us look at the military factors of space, time and manpower," writes Joseph Miranda, former instructor at the U.S. Army JFK Special Warfare Center and editor of Strategy and Tactics magazine. He then proceeds to explain why it is that "nowhere in prohibition advocates' literature can one find a realistic analysis of the armed forces required to successfully interdict drug trafficking. The reason such an analysis cannot be found is quite simple: the mission itself is impossible." [continues 682 words]
THEY call it a "drug-fighting package" for Colombia. In January, the "liberal" Clinton administration proposed $1.3 billion be sent to the civil war-torn South American nation at the request of Colombian president Andres Pastrana. Recently, the Senate approved a "scaled-down" $934 million version, which included the rejection of an amendment "that would have taken $225 million earmarked for Colombia's military and put it into U.S. drug-treatment programs," the Boston Globe reported June 22. The Senate's plan will provide our tax dollars for Colombia to buy transport helicopters and to train Colombian military personnel -- a notorious assortment of thugs who have compiled the worst human rights record in the hemisphere. And to satisfy some of the good Christian folk back home, there's a little money in the bill to set up several "human rights programs." [continues 559 words]
Whoever coined the phrase "facts are stubborn things" has apparently never come across drug war advocates - a self-righteous bunch, undeterred by trivial matters of fact. Let me share a few of these trivial facts with you. According to the United Nations Drug Control Program (UNDCP), the illicit drug industry is an annual market of $400 billion. That's eight percent of world trade - higher than the exports of the automobile industry, worldwide. Of course, the illegal drug business creates huge profits. A kilo of raw opium in Pakistan costs about $90 on average. In America, a kilo of opium sells for about $290,000. The UNDCP says that illicit drug profits are so inflated that 75 percent of all drug shipments would have to be intercepted by law enforcement agents to seriously reduce the profitability of the business. Right now drug cops, internationally, intercept only 30 percent of cocaine shipments and 10 to 15 percent of heroin shipments. [continues 644 words]
I recently received a copy of a letter that was sent to the former first lady, Barbara Bush. The letter was written by six mothers whose children are in jail because of the "war on drugs" - a "war" avidly supported by Mrs. Bush's son, George W., who is running for president. All six mothers are members of the November Coalition, which is based in Colville, Wash. What follows is the full-text of the letter. You may find it as interesting and moving as I did. [continues 735 words]
THE noted American psychiatrist Dr. Karl Menninger made a disturbing but fascinating observation about human society in his 1968 book "The Crime of Punishment" - "Society, secretly wants crime, needs crime, and gains definite satisfactions from the present mishandling of it. We consider crime; we punish offenders for it; but we need it. That's a hard-saying worth contemplating. For sure, we condemn crime and punish offenders. But do we secretly want crime, need crime? Do we really gain satisfaction from the present mishandling of crime? [continues 522 words]
REMEMBER the so-called welfare reform debate? Politicians, policy-makers and pundits were arguing about "welfare dependency" - the notion that "welfare queens" (doublespeak for poor black women) had become overly dependent on the state for their survival. Such dependency, they "reasoned," crushed what little sense of initiative poor black mothers had in their crack-addicted, promiscuous bodies. Although it is no small matter, let's put aside - at least for this column - the reality that the "debate" is drenched and dripping with anti-black racism; not to mention the fact that such policy-polemics severely distort what we know about human psychology with regards to incentives, and completely overlooks the much more scandalous, and costly, issue of corporate welfare. [continues 676 words]
I think it was the great American philosopher and psychologist William James who said (and I'm paraphrasing): some people think they are thinking when really they are only re-arranging their prejudices. Such "thinking" colors the popular "debate" on race and the American criminal justice system. Whenever I write a column that highlights the numerous studies, indicating that anti-black racism is part and parcel of our criminal "Justice" system, some self-proclaimed "conservative" writes me to point out the "obvious" reason there are a disproportionate number of blacks behind bars: blacks commit more crime than white people do! (Is that so? How enlightening). [continues 547 words]
I think it was the great American philosopher and psychologist William James who said (and I'm paraphrasing): Some people think they are thinking when really they are only rearranging their prejudices. Such "thinking" colors the popular "debate" on race and the American criminal justice system. Whenever I write a column that highlights the numerous studies, indicating that anti-black racism is part and parcel of our criminal justice system, some self-proclaimed conservative writes me to point out the obvious reason there are a disproportionate number of blacks behind bars: Blacks commit more crimes than white people do. (Is that so? How enlightening.) [continues 689 words]
EVERY so often, I get mail from brothers in prison. Sometimes I think about what it would be like to be in prison. (Oh, I've been in jail once for driving with a suspended license. But that's not prison.) The great Russian novelist Feodor Dostoyevsky (perhaps the greatest Russian novelist) said that you can judge how civilized a society is by the way it treats its prisoners. We don't treat our prisoners very well in this potentially great nation of ours, which is a good thing to those brothers and sisters who don't see anything wrong with the insane Three Strikes law that states like California have in place. [continues 734 words]
As far as lyrics go, Nas is one of the illest rappers alive. Unfortunately, most non-rap fans don't know who Nas, Rakim or Raekwon are because the only rap they are exposed to is the poetically and politically whack. The rappers with the hard-hitting social commentary, uplifting vision, complex rhyme patterns and smooth delivery get no real media attention, which is probably a good thing. good rappers who become "mainstream" seem to turn into corporate lap dogs. The rappers who are actually considered (by fans) to be among the most talented artists are unknown outside of real hip-hop culture. Escaping the corrupting influence of money-hungry pop music executives is a considerable benefit. But that benign neglect comes at a price. [continues 699 words]
