EDUCATION CAN WIN OVER INCARCERATION

Rev. Jeremy Tobin has good reason to question Mississippi's use of private,
for-profit prisons ("State's future with education not with prisons," April
21).

For decades, entrenched interests riding the drug war gravy train have
dominated the drug policy debate. As a result, state budgets favor
incarceration over education.

Prison guard unions and for-profit prisons fund the campaigns of
politicians willing to support mandatory minimum sentencing and
zero-tolerance drug laws.

This is the business approach to drug policy.

The more citizens behind bars, the more money the prison-industrial complex
makes. Clearly, there is a conflict of interest here.

It's worth noting that tobacco use has declined considerably in recent
years. Public education efforts are paying off.

Apparently, mandatory minimum sentences, civil asset forfeiture, random
drug testing and racial profiling are not necessarily the most
cost-effective means of discouraging unhealthy choices.

Robert Sharpe, M.P.A.

Program Officer

Drug Policy Alliance

Washington, D.C.