ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF THE FAILED WAR ON DRUGS

To the Editor:

Sunday's story about Steven Page and the composition of his illegal
drugs was interesting, especially since so many young black men have
gone to prison after they were caught with crack cocaine instead of
powder cocaine, and crack has a much lower threshold for sentencing.

But crack is usually about 50 percent cocaine and the rest is filler,
often something like baking soda. So how is it that crack cocaine
doesn't get analyzed for its purity while powder cocaine does? Sounds
like Steven Page received a sweet deal.

For every white man in Onondaga County who goes to prison for drugs,
99 black men go to prison. That is the second highest disparity rate
in the United States for counties with a population of at least
250,000 people. Weirder still, blacks make up 13 percent of the
drug-using population, though blacks are only 10.6 percent of the
Onondaga County population.

Just another example of the failed "War on Drugs."

Mike Smithson

Syracuse