LEGALIZATION, LIBERTY, AND INCARCERATION

Speakers at ACLU Forum Advocate to End the War on Drugs

ACLU's Santa Barbara chapter held a forum Wednesday evening on civil
liberties, incarceration, and legalization of drugs.

Around 50 people -- ranging from doctors and professors to teenagers
and hippie leftovers -- gathered in the downtown public library to
join in the debate. Approaching the issue from a variety of angles,
speakers Kyle Kazan, Damien Schnyder, and Suzanne Riordan argued that
the legalization of illicit substances is the most just, logical, and
potentially beneficent course of action regarding the contentious issue.

The speakers urged for legalization and decriminalization, as well as
efforts toward preventative education and treatment programs, in
order to end the War on Drugs and stop what they described as the
waste and injustice that's characterized the conflict.

Referencing countries that have experimented with legalization, they
discussed potential merits with this course of action.

In Portugal, for instance, legalization has actually decreased drug
use and the dangers thereof, as the products are regulated and
distributed by governmental agencies.

There have been massive declines in crime, HIV, overdoses, and
overall use of heroin, and a larger percentage of U.S. kids smoke pot
than in countries where marijuana is legal.

It has been argued that legalization will increase general use, but
evidence says otherwise, and as Kazan queried, "Are you going to try
meth if I tell you it's legal?"

Kazan spoke on behalf of LEAP, Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, a
group which consists mainly of police officers, judges, and district
attorneys who have retired and advocate the legalization of illicit
substances. Kazan, an ex-cop, said that legalization is the most
reasonable course of action, despite his personal dislike of drugs.
Kazan said that the War on Drugs, a phrase coined in the Nixon Era,
simply does not work, and that it is "insane to do the same thing
continually and expect different results."

He traced the history of drug legality from 1914 -- when even heroin
could be bought at the market -- to today, and showed that despite
the degree of permissibility, roughly 1.3 percent of the population
will fall prey to addiction.

He lamented the billions of dollars consumed by the War on Drugs, the
billions poured into prisons, and the trillion thrifted away in the
name of prosecution -- all to no effect, save the rocketing prison
populations, much of which consists of nonviolent drug offenders.
Meanwhile, the black market thrives while the rest of the economy is
in tatters.

The purity of drugs, he said, has increased since the seventies,
while the cost has dropped, and in Los Angeles, there are more
marijuana dispensaries than there are Starbucks, though marijuana use
is ostensibly illegal.

Damien Schnyder, an urban anthropologist, discussed the War on Drugs
in terms of racial conflict.

He argued that it was an effort to control people of color who
threaten the established system because they are traditionally less
included, and thus invest less of themselves into it. He said that
this freedom is countered with various prejudicial handicaps. He gave
examples of black men sent to prison for possessing a modicum of
marijuana, or another illicit substance, and pointed out that
profiling is encouraged in police work, which puts people of color at
an automatic disadvantage. In fact, he was pulled over by a police
officer right before he arrived at the forum, he said.

Suzanne Riordan, a Santa Barbara mother who lost her son to drugs,
criticized the quality of the current, punishment-based approach, and
instead urged for one based on understanding. She said that most
users suffer from emotional imbalances, insecurities, and are
generally fragile -- so they gravitate towards drugs -- and while
they need help, they are instead jailed.

Furthermore, because of a lack of adequate treatment options, jail is
often the best choice. "Unless we get to the causes of these
problems, we're never going to solve anything," she said.

Each speaker conceded that drug use is not the most effective way to
deal with anything -- but they argued that the way in which policy
deals with drugs is even more detrimental. It's clear that a change
must come about.