DRUG LAWS ARE NOT EFFECTIVE

Regarding your Jan. 13th editorial, mandatory minimum prison
sentences have done little other than give the land of the free the
highest incarceration rate in the world. The deterrent value of tough
drug laws is grossly overrated.

During the crack epidemic of the '80s, New York City chose the zero
tolerance approach, opting to arrest and prosecute as many offenders
as possible. Meanwhile, Washington, D.C. Mayor Marion Barry was
smoking crack and America's capital had the highest per capita murder
rate in the country. Yet crack use declined in both cities simultaneously.

The decline was not due to a slick anti-drug advertising campaign or
the passage of mandatory minimum sentencing laws. Simply put, the
younger generation saw firsthand what crack was doing to their older
siblings and decided for themselves that crack was bad news. This is
not to say nothing can be done about hard drugs like crack or
methamphetamine, the latest headline grabber. Access to substance
abuse treatment is critical. Diverting resources away from prisons
and into cost-effective treatment would save both tax dollars and lives.

The following U.S. Department of Justice research brief confirms my
claims regarding the spontaneous decline of crack cocaine:
http://www.ncjrs.org/txtfiles1/nij/187490.txt.

ROBERT SHARPE, policy analyst, Common Sense for Drug Policy, Washington, D.C.