Current State Of Affairs Makes For A Unique Opportunity PLEASE COPY AND DISTRIBUTE DrugSense FOCUS Alert #208 Friday, April 27, 2001 After some promising statements early on, the Bush administration is reaching out to Afghanistan's brutal Taliban regime in anticipation of close cooperation in the drug war. The long wait for a drug czar is finally over now that drug war hawk and William Bennett protege John Walters has been nominated just weeks after a Pew research poll found that 74% of Americans feel the drug war has failed. This misguided appointment coincides with a tragedy in Peru and the repeat arrests of Robert Downey, Jr. and Darryl Strawberry. Drug policy reform is THE hot topic in the media. An excellent Apr. 26th op-ed by Lindesmith-DPF Director Ethan Nadelmann in the New York Times provides reformers the opportunity to take advantage of this convergence and leverage any number of drug policy reform arguments into additional coverage in the opinion pages of one of America's largest and most respected newspapers. 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 sent letter list () if you are subscribed, or by E-mailing a copy directly to Your letter will then be forwarded to the list with 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: New York Times (NY) Contact: ARTICLE US NY: OPED: An Unwinnable War On Drugs URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01/n735/a06.html Newshawk: Amanda Pubdate: Thu, 26 Apr 2001 Source: New York Times (NY) Copyright: 2001 The New York Times Company Contact: Website: http://www.nytimes.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/298 Author: Ethan A. Nadelmann Note: Ethan A. Nadelmann is executive director of the Lindesmith Center-Drug Policy Foundation. AN UNWINNABLE WAR ON DRUGS What has the war on drugs done for Darryl Strawberry and Robert Downey Jr.? Are they better off or worse off? Are they the targets or the victims? Should they be thankful or regretful? The war on drugs is really a war on people - on anyone who uses or grows or makes or sells a forbidden drug. It essentially consists of two elements: the predominant role of criminalization of all things having to do with marijuana, cocaine, heroin, Ecstasy and other prohibited drugs and the presumption that abstinence - coerced if necessary - is the only permissible relationship with these drugs. It's that combination that ultimately makes this war unwinnable. The previous drug czar, Barry McCaffrey, wanted to do away with the rhetoric of the war on drugs while retaining its two core elements. Now the new attorney general, John Ashcroft, wants to intensify the drug war efforts. The implications are ominous. The success or failure of drug policies is usually measured by those annual surveys that tell us how many Americans, particularly teenagers, confessed to a pollster that they had used one drug or another. Drug warriors often point to the 1980's as a time when the drug war really worked because the number of illicit drug users reportedly fell more than 50 percent in the decade. But consider that in 1980 no one had ever heard of the cheap, smokable form of cocaine called crack or of drug-related H.I.V. infection. By the 1990's, both had reached epidemic proportions in American cities. Is this success? Or consider that in 1980, the federal budget for drug control was about $1 billion, and state and local budgets perhaps two or three times that. Now the federal drug control budget has ballooned to roughly $20 billion, two-thirds of it for law enforcement, and state and local governments spend even more. On any day in 1980, approximately 50,000 people were behind bars for violating drug laws. Now the number is approaching 500,000. Is this success? What's needed is a new way of evaluating drug policies by looking at how they reduce crime and suffering. Arresting and punishing citizens who smoke marijuana - the vast majority of illicit drug users - should be one of our lowest priorities. We should focus instead on reducing overdose deaths, curbing new H.I.V. infections through needle-exchange programs, cutting the numbers of nonviolent drug offenders behind bars, and wasting less taxpayer money on ineffective criminal policies. Darryl Strawberry and Robert Downey Jr. qualify as both targets and victims of the war on drugs - targeted for consuming a forbidden drug, victimized by policies that must "treat" not just addiction but criminality. Millions more are victimized when their loved ones are put behind bars on drug charges or when they lose family members to drug-related AIDS, overdoses or prohibition-related violence. We should base our drug policies on scientific evidence and public health precepts. That's the most sensible and compassionate way to reduce drug abuse. SAMPLE LETTER To the editor: Ethan Nadelmann's Apr. 26th op-ed on the need to base our drug policies on scientific evidence and public health precepts was right on target. I sometimes think that drug laws have done more harm to Darryl Strawberry and Robert Downey Jr. than the drugs they are addicted to. The real eye opener for me was the phrase "prohibition-related violence." Despite decades of hearing politicians and drug czars blame drugs for violence, the parallels between the drug war and alcohol prohibition had never occurred to me. Alcohol, of course, was once very much associated with organized crime and violence prior to the repeal of prohibition. With innocent missionaries being shot down in Peru and America's prison population at an all time high, perhaps its time for politicians to drop the drug war hysteria and give drug peace a chance. As a Christian, I have to ask myself: What would Jesus do? Robert Sharpe contact info 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. TARGET ANALYSIS - NY Times NEW YORK TIMES Circulations 1,115,000 The New York Times is one of the most widely read and influential newspapers in the country A published letter of only 2 column inches in this paper has an equivalent advertising as if you bought a $52,800 advertisement on behalf of reform and had it published in the NY TImes. Please note that the New York Times limits letters to 150 words. 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 TO SUBSCRIBE, DONATE, VOLUNTEER TO HELP, OR UPDATE YOUR EMAIL SEE http://www.drugsense.org/hurry.htm TO UNSUBSCRIBE SEE http://www.drugsense.org/unsub.htm Prepared by Robert Sharpe - Focus Alert Specialist

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