Pubdate: Sun, 24 Jul 2011 Source: Chicago Tribune (IL) Copyright: 2011 Chicago Tribune Company Contact: http://drugsense.org/url/IuiAC7IZ Website: http://www.chicagotribune.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/82 Author: Ted Gregory, Tribune Reporter IS WAR ON DRUGS RUNNING OUT OF MUNITIONS? Reducing Drug Abuse Requires More Help From Criminal Justice System, Ex-DEA Official Says The debate over illicit drugs heated up in the last month when two groups -- a U.S. Senate subcommittee and a collection of prominent leaders from around the globe -- suggested the "War on Drugs" is a failure. Locally, Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle told a lunchtime rally last month that "drugs and the failed war on drugs have devastated lives, families and communities. For too long we've treated drug use as a criminal justice issue rather than a public issue, which is what it is." Former DEA administrator and former director of the Illinois Department of Corrections Peter Bensinger promptly responded with letters to the editors of major newspapers, including the Tribune. Bensinger said the sentencing disparity for crack cocaine versus powder cocaine has narrowed, as has the recidivism rate of offenders who participate in drug court. "If you want to lower the prison rate and rearrest rate," he said in an interview last week, "have the parolees go to a different neighborhood, get a job, get them drug tested and get them a probation officer who can actually see them." Reducing drug abuse requires treatment, prevention, rehabilitation and law enforcement, he added. Illinois needs more drug courts, drug testing in public schools and lower caseloads for probation officers, he said. Nationally, about 52 percent of all federal prisoners and 1 in 5 state prisoners are serving sentences for drug crimes. The Obama administration in 2009 called for ending the "war" on drugs, saying the time had come to shift focus to prevention and treatment. Yet drug-related violence continues to surge in Mexico and along the U.S. border. More than half of the nearly $26 billion spent last year by the U.S. to fight the drug trade went for strong interdiction and enforcement here and abroad. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard R Smith Jr.