INCARCERATION CAN'T BE CURE

As a drug law reform advocate, I am very pleased that non-violent drug
offenders will soon be released from Alabama's overcrowded and violent
prison system. However, this is equivalent to putting a Band-Aid on an open
jugular.

Despite the fact that Alabama has some of the harshest drug laws in the
nation, it is painfully obvious that they are not acting as a deterrent.
What is the state going to do to keep non-violent drug offenders from
refilling the prison system?

If we leave drug laws the way they are, it is inevitable that a lot of the
same people being released will soon find themselves back in prison.
Substance abuse is a health problem and not a judicial one. You cannot
incarcerate your way out of it.

I suggest we change the laws -- starting with marijuana. We need to remove
all criminal penalties for responsible adult use. Many of the people in
prison for non-violent drug offenses are there for possessing, smoking,
growing or selling marijuana.

While marijuana has never killed anyone, people die every day in the
unjustified war against it. What is the moral basis for persecuting,
incarcerating and killing a non-violent segment of society because of what
they choose to ingest?

Loretta Nall

Alexander City