UNWELCOME CONSEQUENCES

Some unintended consequences of the drug war:

It is likely that the animosity between African Americans (most recently
apparent in Cincinnati) and the criminal justice system is directly related
to the numerous arrests, trials, convictions and imprisonments of outrageous
numbers of African Americans, many of whom have harmed no one but
themselves.

I believe that a substantial percentage of high-speed chases, often
resulting in death, is due to the fact that those who are fleeing the police
are doing so because they are fearful of being caught with drugs,
particularly marijuana.

Many police officers and many people possessing drugs have been
unnecessarily killed or wounded as a direct result of the war on drugs, not
as a result of drug use.

The million or so nonviolent drug offenders currently imprisoned would be
more useful to society and their families if they were free and under the
supervision of public health departments, rather than the criminal justice
system.

Mandatory prison sentences do not cure addicts; sometimes treatment does.
Mandatory prison sentences do destroy families.

Dick Gach, Bloomfield Hills