WHO'S IN JAIL?

Since a smaller share of Americans are breaking the law than at any time
since the '70s, who's being locked up?

The answer, of course, is drug addicts - most of them imprisoned under
mandatory minimum-sentencing laws enacted two decades back. In 1980, there
were about 42,000 drug offenders in America's prisons and jails; now the
number is nearing half a million.

Imprisoning drug offenders might make sense if it worked to squelch drug
abuse, but it doesn't. States that boost drug-offender incarceration rates
typically experience a jump in drug use. Worse, the drug kingpins that
mandatory minimums were created to disable don't seem to be the ones
feeling the sting. Most of America's drug inmates are low-level users or
penny-ante street dealers; only about a tenth qualify as big-time dealers.

Shouldn't this matter - that the drug war isn't working? No matter how many
smugglers the feds find or crack houses the cops raid, the motivated addict
somehow can still find a fix.

Skeptical people are right to wonder: Why is this nation so eager to fight
a futile war, and so reluctant to opt for demand-control tactics that could
actually have an effect? Evidence shows that the surest and cheapest way to
diminish drug abuse is to help kids steer clear of it and to provide
treatment to those already in its grip.

Even so, only 4 cents of every anti-drug dollar is spent on prevention and
treatment.

The Star Tribune, Minneapolis