`War on drugs' is ineffective
Letter to the Editor
The United States has a higher percentage of our population imprisoned than any other country in the world. The number of prisoners is expected to double over the next 20 years. We can barely build enough prisons to keep up the pace. All of this at a time when FBI statisics show the crime rate to be dropping steadily each year.
The vast majority of these prisoners are non-violent drug offenders. These non-violent prisoners are held for long periods under mandatory sentencing laws while murderers and rapists are allowed early release in order to make room for more prisoners.
I ask you: Is drug use really such a heinous crime? Tobacco and alcohol are acknowledged to be two of the most harmful drugs, yet they are used without penalty by a large segment of the population. Most other countries regard drug addiction as a medical problem similar to alcoholism. Imagine how many people would be in prison if alcoholism or cigarette addiction were treated like other drug addictions.
The problem is this: The government, through its "War on Drugs," has so demonized illegal drug use that it is impossible to speak about solutions other than incarceration. Yet this "war" has not been able to reduce the availability of drugs one iota. In fact, the U.S. is still the single largest consumer of illegal drugs in the world after 10 years of "war" — a "war" which has so far cost over $50 billion of taxpayers money.
People use illegal drugs for the same reasons they use legal ones. Humans have always used drugs of one sort of another. This is a fundamental aspect of human behavior which can be traced back thousands of years in almost every culture.
The question in our time should be one of personal accountability. Obviously "driving while intoxicated" should be a crime for it endangers the lives of others. But should someone go to jail because they drink responsibly in the privacy of their own home? This analogy holds true for other forms of drug use.
The simple fact is that the "war on drugs" is a war on a large segment of the American people. It is unsustainable as no amount of legislation can modify human nature. It is a waste of our money and is destroying many more lives than it is helping.
Reverend H.W. Skipper
Dallas, Texas
March 4, 2000
All Viewpoint Stories for Tuesday, March 7, 2000
