WAR ON DRUGS UNDERMINES THE SAFETY OF OUR CHILDREN

Substances Need to Be Decriminalized, Controlled, Says Joy Strickland

As an advocate in the crusade to prevent teen violence, my starting
point is that every child deserves a safe and supportive home, school
and community. Prevention strategies such as mentoring and conflict
resolution - not to mention personal responsibility - are key pieces
of the strategies of Mothers Against Teen Violence and other groups
committed to preventing violence in our communities.

But those pieces are only part of the solution and must be balanced
and supported by a rational and effective national drug policy.

Enacted during the Nixon administration, the so-called war on drugs
was designed to reduce supply and diminish demand for certain
substances deemed harmful or undesirable. But the drug war has never
met this objective, and unintended consequences have undermined the
health and safety of our citizens, especially our children.

I will never forget 9-year-old Cory Weems, who was killed by a stray
bullet in 1994 while having ice cream on his grandmother's front porch
in Dallas. A drug dealer engaged in a car chase was convicted of this
crime. Cory's picture hangs on my office wall, a reminder of one of
the drug war's victims.

Or consider that despite billions spent annually toward arresting and
prosecuting nearly 800,000 people for marijuana offenses, high school
students continue to find marijuana easy to obtain.

By some estimates, as many as 250,000 people die every year from the
proper use of prescription drugs. On the other hand, I am not aware of
one single death directly caused by marijuana. Yet we pay $25,000 per
year to send a drug user to prison, where he will likely have access
to the same drugs for which he has been incarcerated.

If we can't keep drugs out of prisons, it is irrational to expect that
we can keep them off our streets. It is equally irrational to lock up
an individual because of what he chooses to put in his own body.

Drug addiction is not a moral issue. It is a medical problem requiring
medical intervention. But if news reports are any indication, it is
easy to believe that the rich and famous go to rehab while the poor go
to jail. This disparity is the real moral issue.

The drug war keeps prices for the targeted substances artificially
high, assuring that drug trafficking remains an incredibly profitable
venture. The fantastic sums of money flowing from illegal drug sales
have caused elected officials, police officers and prison guards -
just to name a few - to fall prey to drug trafficking.

I have never used illegal drugs, nor do I advocate their use. But I
believe the time has come for a change because our drug laws have
failed us. The substances targeted by the drug war need to be
decriminalized and controlled.

Those concerned about the message decriminalization would send to our
children would do well to consider the message we are sending by
continuing the status quo.

We don't want our children to face the same powerful temptations that
many adults in authority have been powerless to resist. Instead, we
want to remove the fantastic financial incentives to sell these
substances to our children or recruit them into drug
trafficking.

We don't want our children to die as innocent victims of turf wars and
gang violence. We want all nonviolent drug abusers, regardless of
class or race, to have access to rehabilitation.

And finally, we don't want our tax dollars spent enforcing ineffectual
policies that undermine faith in our nation's laws.