Pubdate: Fri, 18 Jan 2008
Source: Metrowest Daily News (MA)
Copyright: 2008 MetroWest Daily News
Contact:  http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/619
Author: Robert Sharpe
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v08/n045/a02.html

DRUG LAWS ARE NOT EFFECTIVE

Regarding your Jan. 13th editorial, mandatory minimum prison 
sentences have done little other than give the land of the free the 
highest incarceration rate in the world. The deterrent value of tough 
drug laws is grossly overrated.

During the crack epidemic of the '80s, New York City chose the zero 
tolerance approach, opting to arrest and prosecute as many offenders 
as possible. Meanwhile, Washington, D.C. Mayor Marion Barry was 
smoking crack and America's capital had the highest per capita murder 
rate in the country. Yet crack use declined in both cities simultaneously.

The decline was not due to a slick anti-drug advertising campaign or 
the passage of mandatory minimum sentencing laws. Simply put, the 
younger generation saw firsthand what crack was doing to their older 
siblings and decided for themselves that crack was bad news. This is 
not to say nothing can be done about hard drugs like crack or 
methamphetamine, the latest headline grabber. Access to substance 
abuse treatment is critical. Diverting resources away from prisons 
and into cost-effective treatment would save both tax dollars and lives.

The following U.S. Department of Justice research brief confirms my 
claims regarding the spontaneous decline of crack cocaine: 
http://www.ncjrs.org/txtfiles1/nij/187490.txt.

ROBERT SHARPE, policy analyst, Common Sense for Drug Policy, Washington, D.C.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom