DRUG WAR'S MANDATED INJUSTICE

In the midst of the soaring rhetoric of last week's Democratic Convention,
more than one speaker quoted Abraham Lincoln's first inaugural address,
invoking "the better angels of our nature." Well, there is an especially
appropriate task awaiting those heavenly creatures -- a long-overdue reform
of our disastrous "war on drugs."

We should begin by recognizing its costly and inhumane dimensions. Much of
the nation, in one way or another, is victimized by this failure --
including, most notably, the innocents, whose exposure to drugs is greater
than ever.

This despite the fact that there are housed in federal and state prisons
and local jails, on drug offenses, more than 500,000 persons -- half a
million people! Clearly, no punishment could be too severe for that portion
of them who were kingpins of the drug trade and who ruined so many lives.
But by far the majority of these prisoners are guilty of only minor
offenses, such as possessing small amounts of marijuana. That includes
people who used it only for medicinal purposes.

The cost to maintain this great horde of prisoners is more than $10 billion
annually. And that's just part of the cost of this war on drugs: The
federal, state and local drug-control budgets last year added up to almost
$40 billion.

These figures were amassed by the Drug Policy Alliance, one of the foremost
national organizations seeking to bring reason to the war on drugs and
reduce substantially those caught in the terrible web of addiction.

There are awful tales of tragedy and shocking injustice hidden in those
figures -- the product of an almost mindlessly draconian system called
"mandatory sentencing" in which even small offenses can draw years in prison.

Thousands of women, many of them mothers of young children, are included
among those minor offenders. Those children left without motherly care are
the most innocent victims of the drug war and the reason some call it a
"war on families" as well as on drugs.

Women are the fastest-growing segment of the U.S. prison population, with
almost 80 percent of them incarcerated for drug offenses. The deep
perversity of the system lies in the fact that women with the least
culpability often get the harshest sentences. Unlike the guilty drug
dealer, they often have no information to trade for a better deal from
prosecutors and might end up with a harsher sentence than the dealer gets.

Then there are women like Kimba Smith, in California, who probably knew a
few things but was so terrified of her abusive boyfriend that she refused
to testify against him. (Those who agree to testify, by the way, frequently
are murdered before they have a chance to do so.) Smith paid for her
terrified silence with a 24-year sentence!

Nonviolent first offenders, male and female, caught with only small amounts
of a controlled substance frequently are given prison sentences of five to
10 years or more. As a result, the number of nonviolent offenders in the
nation's prisons is filling them to overflowing, literally. The resulting
overcrowding is forcing violent felons onto the streets with early releases.

The Drug Policy Alliance also points out other important areas of injustice
in the present enforcement system. For instance, people of color --
African-Americans and Latino-Americans -- are far more likely to be jailed
for drug offenses than others. And college students caught in possession of
very small amounts of illegal substances are denied student loans and even
food stamps.

The Alliance and other organizations are working to reform and reframe the
war on drugs. And they are finding many judges on their side, who are
rebelling against this cruel system. We can expect no federal action during
the congressional hiatus in activity ahead of the November elections, but
it would be of considerable help if, across the country, campaigning
politicians put this high on their promises of legislative action, much
sooner than later.