Pubdate: Wed,  2 Aug 2000
Source: Inquirer (PA)
Copyright: 2000 Philadelphia Newspapers Inc.
Contact:  400 N. Broad Street, Philadelphia, PA 19101
Website: http://www.phillynews.com/inq/
Forum: http://interactive.phillynews.com/talk-show/
Author: James M. O'Neill, SHADOW CONVENTIONEERS UNLEASH UNFRIENDLY FIRE ON 'DRUG WAR'

Speakers at yesterday's session of the alternative Shadow Convention in West
Philadelphia launched a blistering attack on the drug policies of both
Democrats and Republicans, calling the nation's decade-long "war on drugs"
an expensive failure.

They sharply criticized both parties for perpetuating an approach they say
puts a disproportionate number of African Americans and Latinos behind bars
for excessively long sentences, and for continuing to fund drug-enforcement
efforts at the expense of other important social needs.

"Drug prohibition is tearing this country apart," said Gary Johnson, New
Mexico's Republican governor, who has drawn national attention for his
campaign to legalize marijuana. "We're absolutely numb to what's happening
in this country. We need a new drug strategy."

The Shadow Convention, being held this week at the University of
Pennsylvania, is free and open to the public and designed to be an
alternative to the major conventions. There will be a Shadow Convention
during the Democratic Convention in Los Angeles, which starts Aug. 14.

Johnson, who drew rousing applause for his stance on marijuana from the
enthusiastic audience of 500 gathered at the Annenberg Center, said that
half of what the United States currently spends on courts, prisons and law
enforcement is drug-related.

"This is not about doing drugs. Don't do drugs," Johnson said.

But he then noted that, despite insistent negative messages to youth about
drug use, a survey by the Partnership for a Drug-Free America found 54
percent of this year's graduating high school seniors had tried illegal
drugs.

Another speaker, Ethan Nadelmann, executive director of the Lindesmith
Center-Drug Policy Foundation in New York, praised the more relaxed drug
policies of the Netherlands, which he said had not caused drug use to soar
and had improved relations between police and young people.

Nadelmann criticized U.S. drug laws for their "extraordinary repressive
consequences" on African Americans.

"We are fighting," he said, "for a drug policy based on common sense,
science, and human rights."

Others said that the nation should spend less on drug-law enforcement and
more on rehabilitation and drug education.

"You know what I want to hear at the (Republican and Democratic)
conventions?" asked Graham Boyd, director of the American Civil Liberties
Union drug-policy litigation project. "I want to hear them say, 'Read my
lips: no new prisons.' "

Another featured speaker, the Rev. Jesse Jackson, called the Shadow
Convention the "soul of this week's activities" in Philadelphia, because its
organizers have provided ordinary Americans a forum to debate key issues not
discussed at the main-party conventions.

Shadow Convention organizers borrowed a strategy from the major-party
conventions by giving the issue a human face with speakers such as Gus
Smith.

Smith's 23-year-old daughter, Kemba, was sentenced in Connecticut to 24
years in prison for drug-related money laundering, aiding and abetting -
even though, he said, "the prosecutor said she never sold, used or benefited
from the sale of drugs." He said he now must raise Kemba's infant son.

Smith said all Americans pay the price "when our children go to school in
trailers because the government is building prisons. We pay the price when
we don't have money for cancer and AIDS research because they're building
prisons. We must stop this madness."

Thomas Jeavons, chief executive of the Philadelphia Society of Friends
yearly meeting, read a statement from the city's Quakers urging the
government to put far more emphasis on drug treatment and education.

Throughout the day, speakers tried to link the negative impact of
Prohibition in the 1920s with that of today's drug policy.

Many attacked the mandatory-minimum drug-sentencing laws enacted by Congress
in 1986 and 1988, and the Clinton administration's decision to continue
spending more on drug-interdiction programs abroad.

"Today we are tackling a failed drug policy whose friendly fire is killing
Americans," Jackson said. "We're trapped in this policy, which is driven by
fear and greed."

Yesterday's Shadow crowd was larger, louder and visibly younger than the 300
at Monday's session on campaign-finance law.

"For me as a young person, this was inspiring," said Ben Griesinger, 22, a
Bates College student from Boston. "What we're up against seems so big
sometimes, and the wall so high. But to have someone like Jesse Jackson, who
has been in the movement so long, speak so positively gives me strength."

Daniel Blau, 16, of White Plains, N.Y., said he thought the convention would
be an important catalyst to involve others like himself.

"Nothing will get done unless everyday people get involved in the political
process," Blau said.

Today's Shadow session will focus on poverty and America's wealth gap. For a
full schedule, check the convention Web site at
http://www.shadowconventions.com
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