DRUG POLICY ADVOCATE SAYS ADDICTS ARE NOT CRIMINALS

Recently, the legalization of endorsement and sale of
marijuana is closer to becoming a reality, because the Drug Policy
Alliance (DPA) and other organizations continue to gain strong support
for such a move.

The Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP) invited Ethan Nadelmann,
founder and executive director of the DPA yesterday to the University
of Rhode Island and into Professor Christopher LaMonica's
International Politics class in the Independence Hall Auditorium.

DPA is the leading organization in the United States promoting ways to
end the war on drugs with visions of new drug policies based on
science, compassion, human rights and a just society free of
prejudices and disciplinary prohibitions.

Nadelmann discussed reasons why activists feel that marijuana should
be legalized and how it will help lessen the harsh aspects of the War
on Drugs.

"The Drug War has been going on since you've been alive," Nadelmann
told LaMonica's students. He argued that the "Prohibition of marijuana
is doing more harm than good."

Nadelmann explained that America is trying to protect itself by
putting drug addicts and dealers in prisons but it is not working.
Statistics show that the U.S. spends more money building prisons than
we do for schools.

"We spend $40 billion a year to lock people up," Nadelmann said. "We
lock up our fellow citizens more than any other country."

America also holds the number one spot for putting people on probation
and taking away rights of prisoners, such as the right to vote or
purchase food stamps after they are released. They can even be
deprived of benefits such as financial aid for college.

Nadelmann feels a solution to this problem would be to treat addicts
not as criminals, but as individuals with health problems.

"I'm trying to promote a policy for addicts to get treatment,"
Nadelmann said. "We shouldn't arrest 7,000 people a year for
marijuana. It should be similar to booze. You've got a problem and you
deserve help, not prison."

He went on to say that alcohol is technically considered a drug, "yet
if you're addicted to booze you would not go to jail until you drive a
car under the influence and hurt someone."

Nadelmann refers to when was prohibited alcohol. He said everyone
continued to drink but the money went to criminals instead. Also,
prison rates increased, as well as the black market.

Nadelmann used cigarettes as another example. If cigarettes were made
illegal, people would just start smuggling or growing tobacco and
consuming it in other forms, like cocaine. More people would go to
prison and another black market would be created.

"The number of deaths due to lung cancer would be reduced, but so many
would go to jail and even more would die because of shootouts,
killings and smuggling." Nadelmann said.

"The question should be not how to get rid of drugs, but how do we
learn to live with them in a way that would cause the least possible
problems?" he proposed.

In Europe, Nadelmann said that the conservative Prime Minister of
England, Margaret Thatcher, decided to increase the production of drug
needles to reduce the spread of AIDS. People were shocked that
something like this would occur, yet it did not increase drug use and
many users were sharing needles and contracting the incurable disease.

Similar to the situation in Europe, Nadelmann feels that legalizing
marijuana would benefit society. After all, it is legal for cancer
patients and is proven to help them feel better.

However, there are exceptions to every rule. He does agree that
dealers who sell to children do deserve to go to jail but for adults
who just use the product or sell to other adults, they are certainly
not deserving of going to prison alongside murderers and rapists.

One main reason for sending marijuana users to prison is that parents
and society are trying to protect children. But Nadelmann said that it
is the kids who have the drugs.

"Today, it is kids your age who have the best access to elicit drugs,"
Nadelmann addressed the class. "There are a half a dozen government
funded reliable studies that show D.A.R.E. doesn't work."

Nadelmann said that there is no way to stop this. You can smuggle
drugs on planes, boats and trains. Drug traffickers are getting away
with more and will stop at nothing, he said.

"When marijuana trafficking was stopped for a while, drug dealers
switched to cocaine," Nadelmann said. "It didn't smell and you could
keep it in your pocket. So we now have more cocaine coming in, which
is much more dangerous."

Nadelmann said that the United States remains the number one producer
of marijuana.

"The U.S. also produces the finest quality marijuana in the world.
However, the Dutch would dispute that," Nadelmann said.

Above all, he stressed that we should not underestimate the role that
racism plays not only in the U.S., but also in Canada and other countries.

"Ultimately, it's not about the drug or how it acts on the body,"
Nadelmann said. "What determines if a drug is legal or illegal is all
about who uses them. If alcohol had been a favorite to dark skinned
people and opium to whites, it would be different today. If the
Muslims drank booze, it would be illegal."

It is not just advocates such as Nadelmann who hold these views. "Some
of this information might sound unfamiliar but it is packed by science
and evidence," Nadelmann said.

The National Academy of Science has been finding similar conclusions
for the past 20 years, he added.

"Never in the history of human civilization have we had drug free
societies," Nadelmann concluded. "You can never get rid of drugs but
you can help reduce crime, black markets and over crowding of prisons."

For more information on American drug policy and legislation, visit
www.drugpolicy.org or www.ssdp.org.

With over 200 chapters, the SSDP is a national organization aiming to
provide education on tribulations caused by the War on Drugs. They
work to involve youth in the political process and promote open and
rational discussion of alternative solutions to our nation's drug problems.