TREAT DRUG ABUSE AS SOCIAL, HEALTH ISSUE

On Dec. 10, the U.S. Supreme Court gave judges some discretion in
sentencing for crack cocaine offenses. One day later, the U.S.
Sentencing Commission, intending to narrow the stark disparity
between sentences for crack versus powder cocaine, revised sentencing
guidelines in order to make them retroactive.

Why should anyone care about a bunch of drug users -- crack users at
that -- who might receive two years off their sentences? It matters
because of the racial inequities in our system.

It takes the possession of 500 grams of powder cocaine (picture more
than two cups full) to earn a five-year prison sentence. It takes
only 5 grams of crack cocaine (picture half a teaspoon) to earn a
five-year sentence. It is much easier for crack cocaine users to be
sentenced to five years of prison. In fact, 85 percent of all federal
prisoners in custody for crack cocaine are African American, and the
overwhelming majority of them are there for the nonviolent offense of
simple drug possession.

Because of the war on drugs, the U.S. incarcerates 4,800 black males
per 100,000 population. In South Africa during apartheid only 850
black males per 100,000 were incarcerated.

The war on drugs is a failed, racist policy. I don't make these
claims lightly. As a former public defender and prosecutor, I believe
drug prohibition mirrors alcohol prohibition, another failed policy
from our past. And it creates the same death, disease, crime and corruption.

There is an obvious demand for drugs and when we prohibited them, we
created the black market, which has one objective: Sell as much
product as possible, for the highest price possible. Now the
international drug cartels, and those who peddle drugs of unknown
purity on our streets, have an endless stream of revenue. If drugs
were regulated we could at least insure their purity (lessening the
number of overdoses), make it harder for minors to obtain them, and
possibly even raise revenue by taxing drug sales.

We need to be treating drug use and abuse as a social and health
issue just as we do our two most dangerous drugs, alcohol and
tobacco. We need to legalize and then strictly regulate all drugs,
which will put modern-day Al Capones out of business. We need to end
this racist policy of mandatory minimum sentences, which saddles our
judges with these sentencing disparities. Then let us stop
incarcerating our young people with sentences that are more damaging
than the use of the drug itself.

If a person commits a crime while under the influence of drugs, they
should be prosecuted in the same way as those who commit crimes while
under the influence of alcohol. But mere possession or use of a drug
should not be a criminal offense.

We need to honestly educate our children about the relative dangers
of various drugs, and we need to provide counseling and medical care
for those who develop drug use addictions. We treat alcohol addiction
as a medical and social problem; why don't we treat drug addiction in
the same way? Locking drug users up is no solution, is prohibitively
expensive and just makes the situation worse.