NPYM Background and Resources for Minute on the War on Drugs(1) According to the Interfaith Drug Policy Initiative:
1.5 million people are arrested every year for drug-law violations--75% for possession, not sale or manufacture. 600,000 of these arrests are for possessing marijuana for personal use. African-Americans comprise nearly 60% of the people in state prisons for drug felonies. Due largely to the War on Drugs, one in three Black men between the ages of 20 and 29 is in prison, on probation, or on parole--even though their drug usage rates are the same as those of other Americans. 14% of Black men have lost their right to vote due to felony convictions. A majority of women in federal prisons are there for drug law violation; 70% are first-time offenders. Many are incarcerated on "conspiracy" charges, such as taking phone messages for a live-in boyfriend who sells drugs. More than 75% of female prisoners are mothers of small children. Nearly 40% of the AIDS cases reported in the United States have been linked to illicit drug injection. The US Department of Health and Human Services has determined that needle-exchange programs reduce the spread of HIV without increasing drug use, yet the federal government refuses to fund these programs. Civil liberties violations and invasion of privacy are a routine part of drug-law enforcement. These include drug dogs, urine tests, phone taps, paid confidential informants, entrapment, curbside garbage searches, military helicopters, infrared heat detectors, no-knock warrants, and stop-and-frisk searches of minorities and young people. Property forfeiture laws allow police to take property without a criminal conviction. Mandatory minimum prison sentences have removed judicial discretion over sentencing, resulting in excessive sentences for even first-time nonviolent drug offenders. The Drug Free Student Provision of the federal Higher Education Act, which makes students ineligible for financial aid if they have been convicted of a drug offense, effectively prevents many students from attending school and often forces those affected while in school to leave for lack of funding. Federal categorizing of marijuana as a Schedule I substance with no known medical value has deprived many seriously-ill people of its use as an effective therapy for some medical conditions, subjecting them to arrest, fines, and imprisonment even where state law allows medical use of marijuana or when it is prescribed or recommended by their physician. Tens of millions of Americans--including children and adolescents--still use or abuse illegal drugs. The War on Drugs has failed to accomplish its stated goal of a "drug-free America." (2) Under a public health model:
There could be a tightly regulated distribution system for listed drugs. In such a system, drugs could be made available at reasonable prices in order to eliminate or reduce property and personal crime by those seeking to pay inflated prices from unlawful dealers. Access to drugs could be conditioned on drug counseling and treatment where abuse is indicated. Failure to comply with drug regulations could result in civil proceedings, including civil contempt for willful failure to comply with appropriate orders. With a portion of the resources resulting from reduced prison construction and operation cost, a major public education campaign could be undertaken regarding drug abuse similar to the campaign against tobacco use, along with enhanced treatment and prevention programs, which are now seriously under-funded. The excellent King County Bar Association Drug Policy Project Report, below, discusses the public health approach to reducing drug abuse. (3) Resources for more information:
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North Pacific Yearly Meeting
