U.S. DRUG WAR HAS BECOME A RACE WAR

Ted Vaden's excellent Nov. 25 column highlighted the racial disparities in
North Carolina's criminal justice system, a problem that is exacerbated by
the war on some drugs.

The practice of racial profiling is by no means limited to North Carolina.
United States government statistics reveal that the drug war is being waged
in a racist manner throughout the nation. Although only 15 percent of the
nation's drug users are black, blacks account for 37 percent of those
arrested for drug violations, more than 42 percent of those in federal
prisons for drug violations, and almost 60 percent of those in state
prisons for drug felonies.

Support for the drug war would end overnight if whites were incarcerated
for drugs at the same rate as minorities.

Racially disproportionate incarceration rates are not the only cause for
alarm. Putting non-violent drug offenders behind bars with hardened
criminals is a dangerous proposition. Prisons transmit violent habits and
values rather than reduce them. The vast majority of drug users hold jobs
and pay taxes.

Rather than waste scarce resources turning potentially productive members
of society who use illegal recreational drugs into violent criminals, we
should be funding cost-effective treatment.

At present there is a glaring double standard in place. Alcohol and tobacco
are by far the deadliest recreational drugs, yet the government does not
make it their business to destroy the lives of drinkers and smokers. Would
alcoholics even seek treatment for their illness if doing so were
tantamount to confessing to criminal activity?

It's time to declare peace in the failed drug war and begin treating all
substance abuse as the public health problem it is.

Robert Sharpe

Program officer, The Lindesmith Center-Drug Policy Foundation

Washington, D.C