DrugSense FOCUS Alert # 115 July 8,1999 La Times Recognizes Symptoms Of Drug War But Refuses To Attack The Disease TO SUBSCRIBE, UNSUBSCRIBE, DONATE, VOLUNTEER TO HELP OR UPDATE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS PLEASE SEE THE INFORMATION AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS FOCUS ALERT *PLEASE COPY AND DISTRIBUTE* DrugSense FOCUS Alert # 115 July 8,1999 Los Angeles Times "Double Play" While many more people are starting to realize that the war on drugs is the foundation of a number of national and international problems, others seem to imagine such problems can be solved without ending the drug war. Two editorials published on the same day in the Los Angeles Times demonstrate how editors there understand certain aspects of drug war devastation, but they still refuse to see the big picture. Editorialists for the Times urge California leaders to address the crisis in prison overcrowding and joins the chorus singing praises for forced treatment as an alternative to imprisoning nonviolent drug offenders. In a separate piece, the Times writes that U.S. leaders should take a more sensible position on the civil war in Colombia by supporting a peace initiative, not an infusion of more arms. Both of these positions appear to be reasonable, but without challenging the larger drug war itself they offer little chance for true change. The Times overlooks the fact that if drug sales were regulated, the State of California would not only avoid interfering in the lives of those nonviolent drug offenders, but they would also eliminate the violence (and potential inmates) orbiting around black markets. And in suggesting that the Colombian government "build communities based on a fair standard of living," the Times ignores the huge sums of money drug prohibition brings to rebel groups in the nation through black markets. Please write a letter to the Times informing editors they have missed the forest for the trees: The longer the drug war rages, the longer the problems lamented in these editorials will intensify. Thanks for your effort and support. WRITE A LETTER TODAY It's not what others do it's what YOU do PLEASE SEND US A COPY OF YOUR LETTER OR TELL US WHAT YOU DID (Letter, Phone, fax etc.) Please post a copy your letter or report your action to the MAPTalk list if you are subscribed, or by E-mailing a copy directly to: Your letter will then be forwarded to the list so others can learn from your efforts and be motivated to follow suit. This is VERY IMPORTANT as it is the only way we have of gauging our impact and effectiveness. CONTACT INFO Source: Los Angeles Times (CA) Contact: Pubdate: Wed, 7 July 1999 Source: Los Angeles Times (CA) Copyright: 1999 Los Angeles Times. Contact: Fax: (213) 237-4712 Website: http://www.latimes.com/ Forum: http://www.latimes.com/home/discuss/ PRISONS ARE NOT ENOUGH On July 4 Gov. Gray Davis signed a bill authorizing the construction of a mammoth, 2,248-bed maximum security prison just north of Bakersfield. The bill, he said, would "help to ensure that California remains a state that demands safety for its citizens and justice from its criminals." However, just building new prisons has little correlation with public safety and does nothing to reduce the astronomical costs of incarcerating its 160,000 prisoners. Prisons don't lock up most offenders and throw away the key. Even with the three strikes law increasing many sentences, the state's prisons release about 90,000 people each year into California communities with virtually no follow up, one reason why roughly two thirds of state inmates paroled this year are likely to return to prison. Today, the Assembly Appropriations Committee considers a bill that would aid both safety and justice. The measure, by Sen. Richard Polanco (D Los Angeles), would require the state Department of Corrections to conduct a public study of cost effective alternatives to prison building. Taxpayers currently pay $21,000 a year to imprison each of California's 59,000 nonviolent drug offenders. Most of these drug offenders are addicts who receive no intensive substance abuse treatment in prison and tend to commit crimes again, cycling in and out of prison for decades. Polanco's bill would require the state Corrections Department to study alternatives used in other states, like requiring the offenders to get into treatment, get jobs and pay part of their salaries back to the state to fund the drug treatment programs they attend. Next week, the Assembly Public Safety Committee will consider a related bill that would prod the Corrections Department to think more creatively. The bill, authored by Sen. John Vasconcellos (D Santa Clara), would revise the state's penal code to declare that the purpose of prisons is "prevention, rehabilitation and punishment." Two decades ago, the state removed the term "rehabilitation" from its penal code, making punishment the sole official purpose of its prisons. If prisoners are to reenter society, punishment alone is not enough. Despite a near tripling in the number of state prisons since 1980, California prisons are overcrowded again, and voters have rejected bond measures that would have kept the prison building boom rolling. An exploration of ways to serve justice with fewer new cells is a sensible public safety policy. Pubdate: Wed, 7 July 1999 Source: Los Angeles Times (CA) Copyright: 1999 Los Angeles Times. Contact: Fax: (213) 237-4712 Website: http://www.latimes.com/ Forum: http://www.latimes.com/home/discuss/ BEAM OF HOPE FOR COLOMBIA Almost a year ago, in the steamy jungles of southern Colombia, then President-elect Andres Pastrana surprised his countrymen by posing for a photo with Manuel "Sureshot" Marulanda, commander of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, the hemisphere's oldest and largest guerrilla force. Pastrana's brave and bold move was meant to demonstrate his intention to end the 35-year-old civil war that has taken more than 35,000 Colombian lives. Today, representatives of the government and the insurgents will begin negotiations to achieve a peace that could pave the way toward resolving the country's many problems. The U.S. government should support these negotiations with diplomacy and other resources. Achieving peace will not be easy. The drug traffickers, the paramilitaries and others have profited from the absence of the rule of law in Colombia. They will resist any diminution of their power. The Clinton administration has been a staunch supporter of Pastrana's peace initiative, and it's in Washington's interest to help where it can without pushing. A negotiated peace in Colombia offers America a long term answer to a big part of the drug menace. But this view is not universally shared in Washington. A small but powerful group of conservative Republicans, including Rep. Benjamin A. Gilman (N.Y.), Rep. Dan Burton (Ind.) and Sen. Jesse Helms (N.C.), believes it knows what's best for Colombia. Helms and company have placed their bets on a continued militarized antidrug policy despite its evident failure. Even after Colombian police crushed the Medellin and Cali drug cartels, the trade continues, now pursued by smaller groups that are harder to crack than the cartels. Colombia does not need more guns from America. Instead Colombia's leadership must reach out to the deprived in the jungles and the highlands and offer them an opportunity to build communities based on a fair standard of living. Pastrana deserves this chance. SAMPLE LETTER (sent) To the Editor: I read with great interest the editorials "Prisons Aren't Enough," and "Beam of Hope for Colombia." The headlines hinted at two separate indictments of the drug war on the same page of the influential LA Times. Instead, the actual texts offered half-hearted calls to modify approaches to problems caused by drug prohibition. The suggested changes do not address the larger unintended consequences of the drug war. The need to reduce prison populations was recognized. Sadly, instead of simply taking a huge percentage of the prison population out of the picture by regulating drug sales and eliminating the black market, the Times jumped on the coerced treatment bandwagon. Using the power of the state to force an individual who has harmed no one into treatment may be a small improvement over using the power of the state to force an individual who has harmed no one into prison, but it's the same basic principle, and it offers similar pitfalls. What sort of facilities will be used for treatment and who will pay to build them? How will relapses be addressed? With the threat of prison perhaps? Will treatment professionals form a union which rivals the power of prison guards in California? Turning attention to Colombia, the Times argued that the U.S. should spend less energy intensifying the civil war with more weapons shipments and more energy on a peace initiative. While it's true that more arms won't lead to a settlement between rebels and the government, drug profits are a complex element of the conflict. The idea that the Colombian government could resolve the situation simply by giving economic incentives to supporters of the rebels is questionable at best. Can economic incentives offered by the Colombian government be more attractive than economic incentives offered by drug cartels? It's impossible to ignore the symptoms of the war on drugs any longer. Uncoordinated and partially effective remedies for each symptom may offer some temporary relief, but a real cure can only be found in the surgical removal of the rampant disease that is the drug war. Stephen Young IMPORTANT: Always include your address and telephone number Please note: If you choose to use this letter as a model please modify it at least somewhat so that the paper does not receive numerous copies of the same letter and so that the original author receives credit for his/her work. ADDITIONAL INFO to help you in your letter writing efforts 3 Tips for Letter Writers http://www.mapinc.org/3tips.htm Letter Writers Style Guide http://www.mapinc.org/style.htm Prepared by Steve Young () Focus Alert Specialist

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