LAW ENFORCEMENT, DRUGS

I was surprised by E.F. Banks' Jan. 19 Viewpoints letter,
"Simple: Don't do drugs."

Banks should look at the empirical evidence if he thinks the war on
drugs does not generate a lack of justice in the judicial system.
Although it is estimated that over 80 percent of drug users are
Anglos, blacks make up 74 percent of those who are incarcerated for
drug offenses.

According to the Center for Substance Research, blacks are being
arrested at a faster rate, although blacks only represent 13 percent
of drug users.

Since the early 1980s, the arrest rate for African-Americans on drug
charges has soared by 156 percent, compared to a 49 percent increase
for whites.

A recent study by the Eisenhower Foundation contended that the drug
war has not worked and said, "Prisons have become our nation's
substitute for effective policies on crime, drugs, mental illness,
housing, poverty and employment of the hardest to employ." Maybe Banks
thinks we should go back to alcohol prohibition since alcohol was and
still continues to be a destructive force in society. Prohibition was
ended after the 13 years of destruction and corruption it caused on
both sides of the law. Drugs should be a health issue, not a law
enforcement matter.