DRUG POLICIES UNSUCCESSFUL

The "War on Drugs" is a social travesty.

Let's see, drugs are illegal. Yet, our beloved C.I.A. was running
cocaine into the United States for years during the '80s. This is a
fact that was revealed during the Iran-Contra hearings. Most of the
drugs ended up in inner cities with populations made up mostly of
poor whites and minorities. Not surprisingly, American prisons began
to fill up at an alarming rate.

What was the response from our government? Build more prisons. Under
the radar, some states like Texas, passed laws that allowed the new
prisons to be "For Profit" prisons. More than half of the prisoners
were non-violent, minority drug offenders doing forced labor so that
old white men could get rich. Where have I heard about this before?
Oh yes, in history class, it was called slavery! Texas now imports
prisoners from other states, including Hawai'i, to keep its modern
slavery system running. The United States passed Russia a few years
ago, for the lead in the race to incarcerate. More than half of the
prisoners are still non-violent drug offenders.

The ramifications on American society, from this "war on drugs" are
enormous. We can look at Sweden, Norway, and Holland for more
successful drug policies or we can continue with legalized slavery
for another 400 years.

Jason Nichols

Koloa