BEARMAN CRUSADES FOR END TO POINTLESS WAR ON DRUGS

Editor, Daily Nexus,

There are many reasons to vote for Dr. David Bearman for 3rd District
supervisor. His views on the budgetary impact of current drug policy
are just one reason.

Dr. Dave Bearman has been a crusader for years to reform American drug
policy. His book Demons, Discrimination and Dollars: A Brief History of
the Origins of American Drug Laws recognizes the so-called "War on
Drugs" is really a war on minorities and the underclass.

This war has been a drain on the public coffers since introduced by
President Nixon in 1972. In the process it has ripped to shreds the
First, Fourth, Fifth, Ninth and 10th Amendments to the Constitution
while winking at the Hatch Act.

Dr. Bearman is not alone in his concerns. Supervisor Brooks Firestone
has expressed similar concerns regarding criminal justice
expenditures. Firestone was right-on when he suggested examining
decriminalizing marijuana. If even a partial decriminalization
occurred, this could save millions for Santa Barbara County taxpayers.

Firestone was correct again when speaking of the proposed North County
jail and that "The real question is: Can we afford to operate this
jail once we build it? This is going to be a very real problem for
us."

The U.S. has four times as many people in jail and prison than in 1970
and a disproportionate number are minorities. Is America really four
times as criminal today as it was in 1970 when the Controlled
Substances Act was passed, or have we just replaced ugly racial
epithets with the more politically correct terms "drug dealer" and
"drug user"?

The emotional, constitutional and financial costs of our failed drug
policy are enormous. A conservative estimate puts costs at over $100
billion a year. This figure doesn't include the associated costs of
families who go on welfare because the principal breadwinner is in
jail, nor the problem created by the shattered lives of people
harassed for victimless crimes.

Dr. Bearman recognizes there are better ways to spend our tax dollars.
For those with drug abuse problems, health care is both more
cost-effective and produces better results than incarceration.

I urge you to vote Dr. Bearman for 3rd District supervisor.

Thomas Tribble