DRUG LAWS LOCK UP NONVIOLENT

Poor Disproportionately Hit By War On Drugs

WASHINGTON - More than half of convicted drug offenders at state prisons
have no history of violent crime or serious drug offenses, and a
disproportionate number of them come from poor and minority communities, a
study to be released today found.

The study by the Sentencing Project, a Washington-based advocacy group that
promotes alternatives to prison, offers a detailed look at
state-incarcerated drug offenders, almost a quarter of all inmates.

It is based on information collected in 1997, when the last federal survey
of state drug prisoners was conducted. An estimated $5 billion is spent
each year to keep drug offenders incarcerated.

The study's findings suggest that harsh sentencing laws and shortsighted
law enforcement policies that combat illicit drug use have had the
unintended consequence of imprisoning mostly nonviolent drug offenders,
many of them black and Latino.

A spokesman for the Drug Enforcement Administration declined to comment on
the group's findings but defended the government's anti-drug policies,
saying that many drug offenders do not seek treatment until after they have
been arrested.