Pubdate: Sun, 11 May 2008
Source: Sacramento Bee (CA)
Page: E6, Forum section
Copyright: 2008 The Sacramento Bee
Contact:  http://www.sacbee.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/376
Note: Does not publish letters from outside its circulation area.

DRUG WAR'S TWO FACES

A drug raid at San Diego State University last week made headlines. 
Student drug dealers were caught openly selling drugs to fellow 
students over the Internet, in frat houses and dormitories. The 
arrest of children of privilege is noteworthy mostly because of its 
rarity. Despite rampant drug use on many college campuses, student 
dealers and users seldom risk prosecution.

The novelty of the SDSU raid stands in sharp contrast to the contents 
of two reports issued last week about the nation's 30-year "war on 
drugs." The reports detail the devastating effects of a drug policy 
that has targeted poor blacks in inner cities even as rates of 
illegal drug use have remained similar for blacks and whites.

The reports, one by the Sentencing Project and the other by Human 
Rights Watch, rely on federal law enforcement data to document racial 
disparity in drug arrests and imprisonment. The statistics show a 
consistent pattern of discriminatory enforcement that has sent blacks 
- - young men especially, but black women as well - to prison at rates 
disproportionate to their presence in the population.

According to the Human Rights Watch report, African American men are 
nearly 12 times as likely to be imprisoned for drug convictions as 
whites. In its report, "Targeting Blacks: Drug Enforcement and Race 
in the United States," Human Rights Watch includes statistics from 
the 2003 National Corrections Reporting Program. Combined reports 
from the 34 states that responded show that blacks are imprisoned for 
drug crimes at a rate of 256 for every 100,000 African Americans. 
Whites were imprisoned at a rate of 25 per 100,000. In California the 
rate was 280 blacks in prison for drug crimes per 100,000, compared 
with 26 for whites.

The incarceration strategy has had a destructive impact on black 
communities. For black men, imprisonment carries a stain that is 
impossible to erase. It leads to joblessness and hopelessness that in 
turn translate into more crime.

It has also contributed to the widespread belief among African 
Americans that the criminal justice system is racist, that young 
black men selling nickel bags of crack in the gritty inner city of 
San Diego are more likely to be arrested, prosecuted and sent to 
prison than young white men who sell drugs out of frat houses. The 
recent reports give those beliefs substance.

The point here is not to treat white drug dealers more harshly. What 
the nation needs is a drug strategy that treats everyone equally and 
moves from a failed strategy of expensive incarceration toward 
greater emphasis on treatment, education and social programs that are 
more effective and less damaging to individuals and communities. 
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake