Pubdate: Sun, 22 Jun 2003 Source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution (GA) Copyright: 2003 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Contact: http://www.accessatlanta.com/ajc/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/28 Author: Bill Fogarty MISGUIDED DRUG LAWS PACK PRISONS, DRAIN CASH Cynthia Tucker's focus on discriminatory sentencing practices deflects attention from the root cause of the excessive prison population: misguided drug laws. Automobiles and alcohol kill more people every year than illegal drugs. We accept the use of these legal products as part of a free society. Their dangerous misuse, where others are involved, is appropriately punished. Misinformation and scare tactics, rather than rational thinking, create a cultural bias that leads us to lock up people who consume drugs, whether or not their use endangers others. Taxpayers should wake up to the fact that they fund the tuition and room and board for drug-user inmates to learn the more violent techniques of the criminal trade from hard-core offenders. Many of these trainees could be working, taxpaying citizens if it weren't for existing drug laws. As Tucker points out, the economic costs of this continuing folly are enormous and weigh disproportionately on the black community. Lighter and fairer sentencing practices alleviate a symptom but don't address the disease. Decriminalization with appropriate regulation is what's needed. BILL FOGARTY, Alpharetta - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom