DRUG CRIMINALIZATION DOESN'T WORK

The League of Women Voters of the Charleston Area thanks The Post and
Courier and Thomas Ravenel for bringing public attention to the
important issue of widespread illegal drug use. We think the public
needs a fact-based understanding about drug use and related
government policy, including an unbiased consideration about whether
the criminalization of drug use has made the problem better or worse.

Recently our Charleston Area League members decided to educate
ourselves on these matters. Before the League of Women Voters adopts
a position on an issue, we are required to investigate all sides of
the issue with an open mind. Therefore, in 2010 we did a year-long
study on illegal drugs in South Carolina.

We started with a public program featuring Charleston and North
Charleston police chiefs Mullen and Zumalt, who spoke in favor of
drug prohibition; a retired former police chief who argued for drug
legalization; and a former drug addict who had spent time in prison.
Over the next months we researched many aspects of drug issues,
including the extent and cost of public drug use, the unequal funding
and effectiveness of drug courts, drug use in state prisons, racial
effects of drug arrests, availability of treatment and much more.

Our final study report, called "Mapping the Elephant: Illegal Drugs
in South Carolina," is on-line at our League's web site at
www.lwvcharleston.org.

Based on our study and discussions, our Charleston League concluded
that the current policy of expecting criminalization to stop people
from using and selling drugs has not and will not work. Billions of
dollars have been spent, and prisons have been filled many times
over, but the percentages of the U.S. population addicted to drugs in
1914 and in 2004 are the same -- 1.3 percent. During those 90 years,
the street cost of nearly all drugs dropped, and drug purity
increased. And, experience has proved that a drug user can get over
an addiction, but a person with a prison record can never get over a
drug conviction.

We know there is no perfect solution to the drug problem. Some
people, regardless of the dangers of drugs and legal penalties, will
always be foolish enough to use drugs. Based on our study, the
Charleston League (but not the state or national leagues, which have
no positions at this time) reached consensus on a number of positions
related to specific areas of drug policy, and these can be found in
the study report.

Our central overriding conclusion was that illegal drug use should be
considered a public health issue, and drug addiction should be
addressed by substance abuse treatment programs instead of incarceration.

We invite you to read our study on-line and make up your own mind
based on the facts about this critical but neglected public issue,
and then advocate for or against policies as you feel appropriate.

MARY HORRES

President

League of Women Voters of the Charleston Area

Pignatelli Crescent

Mount Pleasant