Pubdate: Thu, 03 May 2001
Source: Economist, The (UK)
Copyright: 2001 The Economist Newspaper Limited
Contact:  http://www.economist.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/132

EXPERIMENT WITH DRUGS, MR BUSH

America's Drugs Policies Don't Work. Alas, The Bush Administration Seems To 
Want More Of The Same

BY ANY reasonable measure, America's "war on drugs" is a disaster. At home, 
ferocious "mandatory sentencing" laws are the main reason for the country's 
huge prison population. Almost one in four of the country's 2m prisoners 
are there for drug offences, with only a limited chance of becoming 
productive members of society when they are released (see article). Abroad, 
America is being sucked into domestic conflicts, notably in Colombia; and 
recently its forces shot down a "drugs" plane in Peru that turned out to be 
carrying missionaries. Meanwhile, drugs have never been easier to get in 
the United States, with prices lower, purity higher and experimentation 
among schoolchildren as rampant as ever.

The Economist has long argued that drugs should be decriminalised. Few 
politicians will go that far, but many have edged in that direction. Back 
in January, George Bush, who was once busted for drink-driving and has 
always danced around the question of whether he took drugs in his misspent 
youth, seemed to be one of them. He argued that long minimum sentences for 
first-time drug users were not the best way "to occupy jail-space". He also 
worried about the disparities between the sentences handed down for 
possessing crack and those for powdered cocaine-disparities that help 
explain why so many more blacks go to prison than whites.

The distant hope that a pragmatic conservative might yet change policy in a 
way that a liberal Democrat might not dare have now been dashed. First, Mr 
Bush announced that he would enforce a law that will deprive drug offenders 
of federal grants or loans for college education (one of the better ways of 
getting them back on the straight and narrow). Now the White House is 
strongly hinting that it will appoint John Walters as the new drugs "tsar".

Mr Walters is to the drugs war what first world war generals were to trench 
warfare. He does not lack experience (he was a deputy drug tsar under Mr 
Bush's father), but his basic reaction to the heavy losses sustained so far 
seems to be merely to increase the size of the attack. Mr Clinton's drug 
policy, in his view, was too soft. The idea that American sentences are too 
harsh is "among the great urban myths of our time". He points out that only 
8.8% of those in state prisons are there for possession (which is true, but 
ignores the fact that many of the 11.3% who are there for drug-trafficking 
are there for being little more than lowly mules in the production 
process). Another "urban myth" is the idea that the "criminal justice 
system is unjustly punishing young black men."

In policy terms, Mr Walters opposes the idea of distributing syringes to 
drug addicts as a way of controlling the spread of HIV. He dislikes even 
the thought of limited legalisation and various sorts of treatment. "If 
anything," he wrote recently, "the trend of anti-drinking and anti-smoking 
efforts today is to criminalise certain aspects of use and to attack 
availability."

It would be hard for Mr Bush to claim that he had no choice other than to 
be a hardliner. Voters have passed eight state ballots calling for 
marijuana to be legalised for medical purposes since 1996; Californians 
have also voted for an initiative requiring treatment instead of 
incarceration for a person's first two drug offences. Tommy Thompson, Mr 
Bush's secretary for health and human services, and several prominent 
Republican governors, have suggested that America should rethink its drugs 
policy. The shooting down of the aircraft in Peru, which killed an American 
missionary and her baby (and may have delayed Mr Walters's appointment), 
has served as a powerful reminder to Americans of the cost of the overseas 
drug war.

Of course, Mr Walters may change his views once he is in office. But a 
policy of increased repression will surely result in thousands of people 
being thrown in prison for sins that are little worse than those alleged of 
the youthful George Bush: being young and irresponsible. An older and more 
responsible Mr Bush should reconsider his choice.
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MAP posted-by: Larry Stevens