TOO MANY PRISONERS ARE NONVIOLENT DRUG OFFENDERS AND BLACK

The Justice Policy Institute, a Washington-based think tank, recently
completed a study on incarceration of drug offenders, the results of
which should trouble all Americans and Virginians in particular.

Nearly one out of four prisoners in America is serving time for a
nonviolent drug crime, the report indicates. It estimates that the
country is spending $9 billion a year to incarcerate drug offenders --
three times the cost of sending every such offender to an outpatient
drug treatment program.

An analysis of Virginia trends is especially appalling.

Virginians will recall that the stated purpose of a prison-building
binge this past decade was to get violent criminals off the streets.

Well, in 1986, according to the Justice Policy study, 13 percent of
Virginians entering state prisons were admitted for drug offenses. Ten
years later, 31 percent of Virginia's incoming prisoners were drug
offenders. The number of nonviolent drug offenders in state prisons has
grown at a rate far exceeding the number of violent criminals.

While incarceration has proved an ineffective and costly substitute for
drug treatment, just as bad has been the disparate racial impact of
Virginia's lock-em-up policies.

Probably not many people realize this, but according to numerous
surveys, drug-use rates among whites and blacks are comparable. Yet
look at the data compiled by the Justice Policy Institute on
incarceration in Virginia.

Among Virginians entering prison in 1986, 14 percent of the blacks and
12 percent of whites were convicted of drug offenses. By 1996, 38
percent of blacks entering state prisons were admitted for drug crimes.
Only 16 percent of the white prisoners were drug offenders.

There are presumably lots of reasons for this disparity, but surely one
of them is racism.

Let's be clear about something. The $1.3 billion in anti-drug aid that
President Clinton has authorized for Colombia's military forces, and
which he supported this week in a visit to Colombia, is a waste. It may
give the impression of seriousness about fighting the drug war,
wherever the battleground. But it offers not the slightest hope of
victory over trafficking or consumption.

Virginia has bought into America's war on drugs big-time. The fact that
it's a failure should eventually occasion adjustments in policy.