VIGIL HELD TO END 40-YEAR DRUG WAR

Friday marked the 40th anniversary of the U.S. "war on drugs," a
policy of zero tolerance first declared by then-President Richard
Nixon in 1971, but members of the MSU branch of Students for Sensible
Drug Policy hope that this anniversary will be the country's last.

MSU Students for Sensible Drug Policy, or MSU SSDP, held a candlelight
vigil at 8:30 p.m. Friday outside the Capitol to protest what they
consider to be failed prohibitionist drug policies and to remember the
people who have died because of them.

The idea behind this vigil was to understand the impact the war on
drugs has had on so many communities, said Jonathan Perri, associate
director of the international SSDP organization.

"Everybody knows someone who uses an illegal substance," he said.
"Almost everybody knows somebody who has been in the criminal justice
system because of it."

During these four decades, the U.S. has worked to eliminate drug
manufacturing, imports, sales and use in the nation, incarcerating
individuals involved with such illegal activity.

Citizens have been taught to fear drugs by being told drug use elicits
violence and causes death, said Kyle Seewald, the soon-to-be president
of MSU SSDP.

"Once (that fear) is ingrained in people's minds, it's hard to
change," the environmental studies and agriscience junior said.

MSU SSDP's event was one of nearly 20 vigils held throughout the
nation Friday, in cities including Chicago, San Francisco, Washington,
D.C., and Tallahassee, Fla. There also was a vigil held in Mexico City.

Perri said many of these vigils were held near government buildings
because attendees wanted to draw the attention of public officials.

"Americans -- (government officials') constituents, their supporters --
no longer support the war on drugs," he said. "We're bringing this
debate right to (officials') doorsteps."

Local residents as well as the president of the Lansing branch of the
American Civil Liberties Union, Mary Pollock, attended the vigil at
the Capitol.

Pollock spoke about the negative impacts of this drug war at the
event.

"(The war on drugs) erodes personal liberties," she said. "It has been
used as an excuse by police to violate Fourth Amendment rights to be
free from search and seizure without reasonable cause."

Children also are growing up without their parents because of the
incarceration of nonviolent criminals involved with drug use.

Haslett resident Robin Schneider, who attended the vigil and is a
member of the campaign Moms United to End the War on Drugs, said she
lost out on having a regular childhood after her father was prosecuted
for possession of marijuana.

"If they were to just regulate the drugs and have these people taken
care of by doctors, we'd see a lot less deaths and a lot less violent
crimes surrounding the drugs," she said.

Trillions of dollars have been spent on this drug war, Perri said, and
yet people still are using and abusing drugs.

Members of MSU SSDP aren't the only ones calling for the end of the
American war on drugs. The Global Commission on Drug Policy released a
report earlier this month recommending an end to the criminalization
of drug use, advocating instead that governments legally regulate drugs.

Former President Jimmy Carter published an opinion column in The New
York Times Thursday stating his support for the commission's
recommendations to end prohibitionist drug policies.

Perri, Pollock and Schneider each said they support a public health
approach to combating drug abuse, including investment in drug
treatment, education and regulation of drug availability.

"(We cannot) just lock people up and throw away the key, which, for
the last 40 years, has been our only approach," Perri said.

After Friday's vigil, MSU SSDP will continue to work to end the war on
drugs.

"We want the government to recognize what we're doing," Seewald said.