VIOLENCE, NOT DRUGS, FILLS UP THE PRISONS

In a recent column, Cynthia Tucker of the Atlanta Constitution claimed the
"overzealous war on drugs ... has fostered one of the world's highest rates
of incarceration while having no discernable effect on the flow of illegal
drugs." As Tucker knows, or should know, this is simply not true.

Since the 1980s we have been waging a very successful struggle against drug
abuse in the United States. Between 1979 and 2000 the number of drug users
in America declined by 45 percent. Cocaine use in America declined by 75
percent. Adolescent drug use in 2000 was almost half the level of 1979 (2.3
million youth vs. 4.1 million). (Source: Office of National Drug Control
Policy, see their Web site, www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov .

The war on drugs is not responsible for America's growing prison population.
In the latest detailed survey of state-prison inmates, more than 91 percent
of American prisoners were either violent criminals or repeat offenders.
Only about 11 percent of state prisoners were drug traffickers and less than
9 percent were behind bars for drug possession. Violent criminals accounted
for 51 percent of the growth in state prisoners in the 1990s while drug
offenders made up only a fifth of population growth, according to the U.S.
Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics
(http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs)

Tucker's opinions on drug use in America might carry more weight if she
would accompany them with facts.

Ray Gagner

Kailua