THE DRUG WAR GRAVY TRAIN

Dear Editor,

Kudos to Troy T. Thomas for an excellent May 19 op-ed on the prison
industrial complex.

For decades, entrenched interests riding the drug war gravy train have
dominated the drug policy debate. As a result, state budgets favor
incarceration over education. Prison guard unions and for-profit prisons
fund the campaigns of politicians willing to support mandatory minimum
sentencing and zero-tolerance drug laws.

This is the business approach to drug policy. The more citizens behind bars,
the more money the prison industry makes.

It's worth noting that tobacco use has declined considerably in recent
years. Public education efforts are paying off.

Apparently mandatory minimum prison sentences, civil asset forfeiture,
random drug testing and racial profiling are not necessarily the most
cost-effective means of discouraging unhealthy choices.

Robert Sharpe, MPA, Policy Analyst, Common Sense for Drug Policy,
Washington, D.C., www.csdp.org