MANDATORY MINIMUMS

Re "Cracked justice: Absurd, racist disparities in drug sentencing,"
editorial, March 5:

As policy analyst for Common Sense for Drug Policy, I know that
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 1980s, 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 older
siblings and decided for itself 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 from prisons and
into cost-effective treatment would save both tax dollars and lives.

Robert Sharpe

Arlington, Va.