TIME TO ENDORSE ALTERNATIVE TO THE 'WAR ON DRUGS'

THE FEDERAL government's war on drugs has failed. It has destroyed
lives, increased violence, failed to reduce drug use, unjustly
targeted the African-American community and people of color, wasted
billions of dollars on prosecuting and jailing nonviolent drug users,
and untold billions more in the wasted potential of all those who have
become "drug war casualties".

On Tuesday, Oakland voters have a historic opportunity to embrace a
rationale, alternative approach by voting for Measure Z, the Oakland
Cannabis Initiative. Measure Z would make private adult marijuana
offenses the lowest police priority in Oakland, and direct the city to
support changes in public policy aiming to regulate, license and tax
the sales of marijuana to adults as soon as possible under California
law.

This we know: current drug policy is an abject failure. Most egregious
is the criminalization of marijuana as a "schedule one" drug,
requiring it to be treated the same as cocaine and heroin, resulting
in the imprisonment of thousands of nonviolent offenders, including a
disproportionate number of people of color. Each year, California
spends $150 million to arrest, prosecute and imprison marijuana
offenders. In Oakland, there were 1000 marijuana arrests just last
year.

It's time to send a clear message to John Aschroft and George W. Bush:
this war has been a catastrophic public policy failure and we will no
longer participate in it. If our goal is to decrease drug use, reduce
violent crime, decrease taxpayer waste, and increase funding for our
deteriorating schools, libraries, and health care system, then by all
measurable standards the current war isn't working. Measure Z offers
Oakland alternative, proven solutions, not more of the same. Consider
the facts:

Drug use decreases when it is decriminalized, regulated and taxed.
Measure Z calls for the regulation and taxation of marijuana, not
criminalization. A RAND Corp. study found for every additional dollar
invested in substance abuse treatment it saves taxpayers $7.46 in
societal costs (crime, violence, loss of productivity, etc.).

Decriminalizing marijuana would save millions in taxpayer dollars, and
generate millions more in tax revenue. It makes more economic sense to
raise money by taxing and regulating the adult use of marijuana than
spending money on criminalizing it.

Violent crime is reduced when drug dealers don't have control of the
market. In countries where the sale of cannabis has been de facto
legalized, drug abuse and violent crime is lower than in comparable
prohibitionist countries, including the U.S. Measure Z allows police
to focus time and energy on violent crime instead of small time
marijuana users.

The population of marijuana prisoners remains 1,500 percent higher
than 25 years ago, and the U.S. just set a new record for marijuana
arrests in 2003. Oakland should no longer accept a drug policy that
violates civil rights, wastes critical tax dollars, and unjustly jails
and discriminates against people of color.

Measure Z offers a sensible alternative to a failed policy. On
Tuesday, cast your ballot for change and common sense, vote "yes" on
Measure Z.