Bookmark: MAP's link to shadow convention items:
http://www.mapinc.org/shadow.htm

Note: Shadow Convention websites:
http://www.drugpolicy.org/
http://www.shadowconventions.com/

BEYOND THE SHADOW OF THE DRUG WAR

PHILADELPHIA -- The Shadow Convention continued Tuesday on the issue of the
failed war on drugs. The event's co-creator, columnist Arianna Huffington,
opened the day by praising Colin Powell's speech at the Repugnicans'
convention for his mention of 2 million prisoners in America.

Fat chance that the fat cats will change. Huffington also quoted from The
New York Times, which called the Shadow Convention "an uneasy assortment of
the disgruntled."

Sure, disgruntled people are here, but these activists take the lead in
doing something about problems that millions of others agree need to be
addressed. As for the "uneasy" part, everyone's getting along fine.

In fact, it's quite a success, given that the Shadow Convention is new this
year and has a minuscule budget compared with the lavish coronation for
"Shrub," much of the money coming from us, the taxpayers.

Incidentally, about $40 billion of Americans' state and federal taxes go in
the bottomless pit of fighting the drug war. And it hasn't gotten us squat.
According to the Lindesmith Center, a Shadow sponsor, 54 percent of high
school seniors say they've tried marijuana. Drug reformers say that between
1981 and 1998, the price of heroin and cocaine dropped sharply while levels
of purity rose.

Lindesmith also cites a Rand Drug Policy Research Center study that shows
treatment is 10 times more cost-effective than interdiction for reducing
cocaine use. Add the information that every dollar invested in treatment
saves society seven more, and you have to wonder why the politicians would
rather be mean than smart.

Among Tuesday's participants were an assemblage of folks, mostly young

and black, wearing white T-shirts with the message "IT COULD HAPPEN TO
YOU," a warning that the drug war could wreck your family, as it has theirs.

First to speak was the Rev. Edwin Sanders, a minister from Nashville,
Tenn., with a powerful, passionate style. Sanders said he was asked to give
the benediction, but he turned the organizers' goof into his theme by
calling for the end of the drug war.

Sanders was right when he said it's time for the faith community to take
its position. "Too many people have been relegated to the scrap heap of
life," he railed, as "profiteers mine a new black gold" in the business of
prison-building.

With applause nearly drowning him out, Sanders said, "We are writing a new
declaration of independence.

Borrowed from the GOP's right-wing shindig, New Mexico's Gov. Gary Johnson
was at the Shawdow Convention. He said prohibition not drug use was what
placed this country apart, and he called for legalization of marijuana.

Between speakers there was a slide show, with pictures of people now
prisoners and their sentences such as 17 years, 23 years, 30 years, life --
mostly on a charge of drug conspiracy.

Putting more of a human face on the horror was Gus Smith, who told of his
daughter, Kemba Smith, a college freshman who got romantically involved
with a drug dealer who had posed as a student.

Although the prosecutor said Kemba had never sold or used drugs, the
pregnant student was convicted of conspiracy, money laundering and making
false statements. Kemba was sentenced to 24 years, a term exceeding what
many killers serve. She gave birth in prison.

A group of kids from Detroit and St. Paul, whose families have been
imprisoned for drugs, came out to sing and read poems. Hearing the stories
from these young sweet faces made for more heartbreaking moments.

It surely put a cold light on Colin Powell's claim that George W. Bush
cares about people.