DRUG WAR UNFAIRLY TARGETS BLACK COMMUNITY

In a recent visit to Dallas, New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani
spoke to the Greater Dallas Crime Commission. The arch-conservative
politico chastised the Clinton Administration's 93lack of commitment94
to stopping the flow of drugs across the border, even though a record
665,000 Americans were arrested in the U.S. last year for simple
marijuana possession.

This number has added to a growing prison population that ranks as the
highest incarceration level in the Western World. Indeed, when it
comes to putting average Americans in jail for drugs, the Clinton camp
is making the Nixon Administration look like a group of dope smoking
liberals by comparison.

Mayor Giuliani went on, warning our fine men in blue to pay close
attention to crime statistics, scrutinizing trends to enhance policing
efforts. Mayor Ron Kirk proudly said he was pleased at not having any
major problems between the police department and the city's minority
communities.

Perhaps our mayor should take time from his busy agenda of meeting
dangerous-thinking individuals like Giuliani, and actually venture
into some of his minority communities. He should also heed Giuliani's
sage advice.

No problems in our minority communities, Mayor Kirk? Look at the
statistics.

Drug crime statistics for 1998 reveal that Dallas police are clearly
and unfairly targeting the black community in the drug war. Using data
obtained through the Open Records Act, the North Texas Council of
Governments, and the National Institute of Drug Abuse, a disturbing
pattern of racial imbalance emerges.

When it comes to enforcing our drug laws, statistics show black
citizens age 25 to 39 are primary victims, making up 49 percent of all
adult drug arrests. Not a surprise, you say? The catch is that
statistically the percentage of whites who report they use drugs is
about the same as blacks (between 11 percent and 12 percent report
having used an illegal drug in the past year). In fact, whites report
a higher rate of lifetime drug use (93have you ever used drugs?94) than
blacks (38 percent vs. 31 percent).

There were 7,227 adult drug-related arrests in Dallas last year out of
a total 100,500 arrests. Of that number, 4,600, or 62 percent of all
drug arrests, involved black citizens. The overwhelming majority of
all drug arrests (80 percent) were for nonviolent possession.

According to available statistics, out of 460,000 white people in
Dallas not one white was arrested in 1998 for selling marijuana. Not
only were arrests for cocaine and opiates lumped together, the city
records office also reported statistics for 93white94 as also including
Hispanics, muddying the racial disparity figures. When the Hispanic
number was subtracted from the artificially inflated white number,
disturbing statistics were revealed.

Overall, blacks are more than four times as likely as white to be
arrested in Dallas for a drug charge.

The Dallas Police Department's portion of the drug war 96 which
includes apprehension, transportation and booking into jail 96 costs a
staggering amount of taxpayers' funds. Mayor Kirk92s total police
budget for fiscal year 1999 is a whopping $258 million. According to
the office of city management, the amount and percentage of the police
budget that is allocated specifically to drug arrests is $28 million,
or about 10 percent.

When factoring in all of the above, the average cost per drug arrest
is $3,500, not counting the additional $16 million in state and
federal drug war grants that augment our local taxpayer dollars.
Perhaps the most alarming part is that this averaged amount is but a
drop in the bucket of the overall cost of our war on Dallas citizens.
The cost of prosecution, incarceration, probation and urine testing
adds thousands of dollars to this figure. Any good citizen who retorts
that 93I don't do drugs, so the drug laws don92t affect me94 should sit
down and do the math. And while that citizen is at it, factor in the
reality that our city's drug problem is not any better, and will not
get better. Why? Simple. Prohibition does not and cannot work in a
free-market society.

When supporting the job the Dallas Police Department is doing
regarding the black community, Mayor Kirk should first remove his
well-heeled foot from his mouth and then do the math himself. One of
the last things the Dallas Police Department should exemplify is a
racially biased group such as 93Giuliani's finest.94 Unless the mayor
and City Council drastically change police policy, this racist trend
will continue, effectively destroying Dallas' black community, as it
is currently known.

Rick D. Day is a Dallas business owner and member of the Drug Policy
Forum of Texas.