GIVE GRAVEL CREDIT FOR GUTSY ANSWER ON DRUGS

Of the eight Democrats vying for their party's presidential
nomination, I think it's fair to say former Alaska 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
PBS 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 elected black governor ever.

Virtually everyone was there to see and hear the front-runners for the
Democratic nomination - New York Sen. Hillary Clinton and Illinois
Sen. Barack Obama. 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 NPR 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.

"The scourge of our present society, particularly in the
African-American community, is the war on drugs," Gravel said.

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, black people are arrested and imprisoned for
nonviolent drug crimes. In 2005, black people - 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 Mayor Marion Barry
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.