THE PEOPLE SPEAK: SOCIETY LOSING OUT IN THE FAILED DRUG WAR

Regarding Ronald Fraser's Aug. 30 Column, Oklahoma Is Not The Only
State Grappling With Overcrowded Prisons.

Throughout the nation, states facing budget shortfalls are pursuing
alternatives to incarceration for nonviolent drug offenders. A study
conducted by the Rand Corp. found that every additional dollar
invested in substance abuse treatment saves taxpayers $7.48 in societal costs.

There is far more at stake than tax dollars. The drug war is not the
promoter of family values that some would have us believe. Children
of inmates are at risk of educational failure, joblessness, addiction
and delinquency.

Not only do the children lose out, but society as a whole does, too.
Incarcerating non-violent drug offenders alongside hardened criminals
is the equivalent of providing them with a taxpayer-funded education
in antisocial behavior. Turning drug users into unemployable excons
is a senseless waste of tax dollars. It's time to declare peace in
the failed drug war and begin treating all substance abuse, legal or
otherwise, as the public health problem it is. Destroying the futures
and families of citizens who make unhealthy choices doesn't benefit anyone.

Drug abuse is bad, but the drug war is worse.

Reference for above-mentioned study: Rydell, C.P. & Everingham, S.S.,
"Controlling Cocaine," Prepared for the Office of National Drug
Control Policy and the U.S. Army (Santa Monica, CA: Drug Policy
Research Center, Rand Corp., 1994), p. 42.

Robert Sharpe,

MPA, policy analyst,

Common Sense for Drug Policy,

Washington, DC

www.csdp.org