LONGSHOT CANDIDATE HITS MARK ON DRUG ENFORCEMENT

Of the eight Democrats vying for their party's presidential
nomination, I think it's fair to say former Alaskan U.S. Sen. Mike
Gravel is the longest of the long shots.

In presidential preference polls, support for him hovers around 1
percent. When it comes to fundraising, his campaign coffers are
nearly bare. So it's not surprising journalists tend to treat Gravel
as a gadfly.

And that's what I thought of him late last month when I sat across
from the Democratic presidential candidates on the stage of Howard
University's Crampton Auditorium. I was one of the three journalists
who got to question the full field of Democratic contenders during a
Public Broadcast Service presidential forum hosted by Tavis Smiley.

The 90-minute, nationally televised program was billed as a chance
for the candidates to "address issues of concern to black America."
And a Who's Who of black America showed up to hear what they had to
say.

Actors Harry Belafonte and Ruby Dee were there. So were novelist
Terry McMillan and poet Sonya Sanchez. Political activist Al Sharpton
and intellectual Cornell West showed up. So did several members of
the Congressional Black Caucus.

When the eight Democrats came on stage, they were introduced by
Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, the only sitting black governor and
only the second black governor ever.

Virtually everyone was there to see and hear the front-runners for
the Democratic nomination -- U.S. Sens. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., and
Barack Obama, D-Ill. In both their polling numbers and money raised,
they are light years ahead of Gravel.

But when the forum ended, it was what Gravel said that I found most
intriguing.

When journalist Michel Martin of National Public Radio asked the
candidates what they would do about the "scourge" of HIV/AIDS
infection among black teenagers, Gravel's answer, though not on
point, hit an important mark.

Unjust war

"The scourge of our present society, particularly in the
African-American community, is the war on drugs," Gravel said in
response to a question about the high rate of HIV/AIDS infections
among black teenagers.

Then he said this about the other Democrats on the stage: "If they
really want to do something about the inner cities, if they really
want to do something about what's happening to the health of the
African-American community, it's time to end this war. There's no
reason to continue it in the slightest. All it does is create
criminals out of people who are not criminals."

His words drew applause from the mostly black audience, but not even
a nod of agreement from the other Democrats on stage with him.

Maybe it's the certainty of his "also-ran" status that emboldened
Gravel to call for an end to the drug war. Maybe he just wanted to
make a splash among the sea of reporters that turned out to cover
this gathering. Maybe what is said was really heartfelt. I don't know.

What I do know is that America's drug war has taken a heavy toll in
black communities across this country.

Disproportionately, blacks are arrested and imprisoned for nonviolent
drug crimes. In 2005, blacks -- who are 12 percent of the nation's
population -- made up 34 percent of the people arrested for drug
abuse violations, according to the FBI's 2005 Crime in the United
States report.

While physicians understand that drug abuse is a medical problem, far
too many black drug users end up with criminal records that reduce
their chances of finding a job and escaping the gravitational pull of
the drug culture.

That's not the fate that befalls people like Lindsay Lohan and
Britney Spears, who go in and out of drug treatment centers without
fear of being jailed for using illegal substances.

A law enforcement sting caught former Washington, D.C. Mayor Marion
Barry, who is black, using crack cocaine, and he was sent to prison.
But many high-profile white drug abusers are allowed to go to the
Betty Ford Clinic to kick their habit instead of being sent to jail.

Gravel appears to understand the unfairness of this nation's drug
war. And in calling for its end, he shows more courage than the
Democratic Party's other presidential wannabes.