DRUG-FREE SCHOOL ZONES? TRY GIMMICK-FREE LEGISLATURES

Government by gimmick fails again. This time, it's drug-free school zones.

Research released last week by the Justice Policy Institute showed that
drug-free school zones have virtually no impact on youth drug abuse.
Drug-free school zones were created by Congress in 1988, and Wisconsin
passed a companion law in 1989. The laws enhanced penalties for drug
offenses committed within 1,000 feet of a school, public park, youth
center, swimming pool, etc.

The laws are silly. The very fact that drugs are illegal makes every square
inch of American soil a "drug-free" zone. Drug crimes that occur within
these zones rarely involve people under 18. In Massachusetts, for example,
less than 1 percent of offenses in drug-free zones involve juveniles, but
the law, in effect, considers a drug deal done in Milwaukee more heinous
than one conducted in a Monroe County farm field.

Why? Because densely populated urban areas place most people within 1,000
feet of a school, public park, youth center or swimming pool at any given
time. Not only is most drug-dealing committed within drug-free zones, so is
most of the robbery, vandalism, disorderly conduct, domestic abuse and
drunk driving. Since dense population areas contain a disproportionate
percentage of minorities, the main impact of drug-free school zones has
been the unintended consequence of imposing harsher drug sentences on
blacks and Hispanics than on whites. Even if the intent of the drug-free
zones was to give prosecutors another sentencing weapon against the most
egregious drug dealers, it's still not worth the corrosive side effect of
injecting racial disparities into the criminal justice system.

Gimmicks like drug-free school zones are irresistible for politicians. They
create good press releases for the legislation's authors, and it's the rare
lawmaker who has the courage to vote against anything that sounds good in a
focus group. It's not until years later that citizens discover the
inadvertent consequences.

Drug-free school zones? Let's create gimmick-free zones where lawmakers meet.