MANDATORY PRISON

Little Effect Seen

Regarding Lynne K. Varner's column, "Common sense replaces hysteria
with high court's cocaine rulings," Opinion, Dec. 18:

Mandatory minimum prison sentences have done little other than give
the land of the free the highest incarceration rate in the world.

The deterrent value of tough drug laws is grossly overrated. During
the crack epidemic of the '80s, New York City chose the
zero-tolerance approach, opting to arrest and prosecute as many
offenders as possible. Meanwhile, Washington, D.C., Mayor Marion
Barry was smoking crack and America's capital had the highest per
capita murder rate in the country. Yet crack use declined in both
cities simultaneously.

The decline was not due to a slick anti-drug advertising campaign or
the passage of mandatory minimum-sentencing laws. Simply put, the
younger generation saw firsthand what crack was doing to their older
siblings and decided for themselves that crack was bad news.

This is not to say nothing can be done about hard drugs like crack or
methamphetamine, the latest headline grabber. Access to
substance-abuse treatment is critical. Diverting resources away from
prisons and into cost-effective treatment would save both tax dollars
and lives.

- - Robert Sharpe, policy analyst, Common Sense for Drug Policy, Washington, D.C.