IT'S TIME TO RETHINK THE FAILED DRUG WAR

Regarding Iowa's seemingly discriminatory incarceration patterns: The
drug war is arguably waged in a racist manner throughout the nation,
with blacks bearing the brunt of zero-tolerance law enforcement.

Although only 15 percent of the nation's drug users are black, blacks
account for 37 percent of those arrested for drug violations, more
than 42 percent of those in federal prisons for drug violations, and
almost 60 percent of those in state prisons for drug felonies.

Violent crime continues to trend downward, yet the Land of the Free
recently earned the dubious distinction of having the highest
incarceration rate in the world, with drug offenses accounting for
the majority of federal incarcerations.

Support for the failed drug war would end overnight if whites were
incarcerated for drug offenses at the same rates as blacks. Racially
disproportionate incarceration rates are not the only cause for alarm.

Our taxes are financing for-profit prison systems that serve to
transmit violent habits and values rather than reduce them.

Rather than waste scarce resources turning potentially productive
members of society with drug problems into hardened criminals, we
should be funding cost-effective treatment. It's time to rethink the
failed drug war and start treating all substance abuse - legal or
otherwise - as the public-health problem that it is.

Robert Sharpe - program officer, Lindesmith Center - Drug Policy
Foundation, 4455 Connecticut Ave. N.W., Washington, D.C.