'DRUG WAR' TARGETS WRONG PEOPLE

Since Sept.11, 2001, the media have spent countless hours discussing a
pointless "war" that can never be won - the war on terrorism. Because of
this, media have largely ignored another objectionable "war" - the war on
drugs.

Since the war on drugs was first declared in the 1970s, it has ruined lives
and made no progress. Although there are two parts to the war - drug
enforcement on the home front and a more literal war in drug-producing
Third World countries - both ends do the same thing: They create victims
without solving a single problem. People become victims when the war on
drugs targets the least powerful in a society.

A recent report from the American Civil Liberties Union cited the latest
victims of the war on drugs are women. This has led to skyrocketing numbers
of women being jailed for drug violations, according to The Associated
Press. Lenora Lapidus, the ACLU's women's rights director, reported women
who were hardly involved in drug trades have been handed long prison terms
for such minor infractions as failing to turn in their husbands or
boyfriends. Because of this, women have been incarcerated and separated
from their children, who often end up in the foster care system. The report
also stated that sentences for female accomplices never take into account a
woman's dependency on her husband or boyfriend.

Unfortunately, black and Hispanic women are more affected by the domestic
drug war. The ACLU reported Hispanic and black females are sentenced more
frequently for drug violations than their white counterparts, despite the
relatively equal rates of drug use.

In Third World countries, the war on drugs is waged with no regard for the
well-being of residents. There have been various reports of pesticides used
to kill coca plants in South America, which have negatively affected the
health of the local population.

This is the recurring theme of the war on drugs, both here and abroad. In
the United States, it targets ethnic minorities and women; abroad, it
targets Third World countries. What the war on drugs fails to do is target
the real and only root of the drug problem - poverty.

Interestingly enough, poverty and unemployment are the common bonds between
minorities, women and inhabitants of Third World countries. In the United
States alone, the unemployment rate in black communities is more than
double the rate in white communities, according to the National Association
for the Advancement of Colored People. The unemployment rate for Hispanics
is also rising, according to the National Council of La Raza.

Furthermore, women have always received less pay than men in every
occupation, according to the National Organization of Women. In Third World
countries, the United Nations reports that more than 600 million children
do not have a decent place to live. It's no surprise drugs are bought and
sold by the very poor.

Essentially, the so-called war on drugs ignores the indigent communities
plagued most by drugs, while harshly mistreating these very communities.
Because of this, the poverty-stricken areas consistently fail to achieve
any of their goals. This war has not reduced demand for narcotics, and it
certainly has not reduced supply.

This war will not be won until national and foreign drug policy shifts
focus from maligning the powerless to battling the poverty. The U.S.
government must work to eliminate Third World poverty, the economic malaise
of minorities and the pay disparity between genders. The drug trade is the
industry of the world's most desperate people. Only relieving this despair
can help win the war on drugs.