Pubdate: Thu, 10 May 2012
Source: News-Press (Fort Myers, FL)
Copyright: 2012 The News-Press
Contact:  http://www.news-press.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1133
Author: Rick Diamond
Note: Rick Diamond, a Fort Myers resident, was president of Lee 
County affiliate of Habit for Humanity from 1992-95.

AFRICAN-AMERICANS UNFAIR TARGET IN THE WAR ON DRUGS

The totally ineffective War on Drugs has made a bad condition even 
worse, especially for African-Americans. The 40 million drug 
convictions, since the appointment of the first drug czar in 1971, 
has disproportionately targeted and imprisoned young black males. It 
has destroyed the lives of 1 out of every 4 young black men because 
of felony convictions at an early age.

To market cocaine in the inner cities at an affordable price, drug 
traffickers developed highly addictive crack cocaine, a rock crystal 
form of cocaine that can be heated and smoked.

The drug laws, however, stated that possession or trafficking in 
crack cocaine carried sentences that were more than 10 times harsher 
than for powder cocaine. Young black men rapidly got caught up in the 
prison system while middle-class whites and Hollywood stars, who 
mostly used powder cocaine, often got probation in exchange for going 
to rehab facilities. The good news is that the distinction in 
sentencing guidelines between crack and powder cocaine has been 
largely removed.

With little or no chance of rehabilitation, young black men go back 
to their neighborhoods and too often return to the violent drug 
trade, arming themselves with readily available guns. The grim 
statistics tell the tale. In 2010, of the 7,000 black homicides 
nationwide, blacks were responsible for over 90 percent of the murders.

You do not have to go further than the 33916 ZIP code in Fort Myers 
to see these statistics follow a local pattern. Last year, there were 
20 homicides in the city, with 10 in Dunbar. Already this year there 
have been five murders in Dunbar. Chances are that less than half of 
these murders will ever be solved because witnesses, fearing for 
their lives, do not come forward.

Fort Myers police Chief Doug Baker explained that many of the murders 
in the city today are not easily solved, random acts of violence, but 
are planned executions of rival drug members or of witnesses to prior slayings.

In many of our inner cities the black middle class has fled the chaos 
and the crime. In Dunbar, however, concerned citizens have formed the 
21st Century Collaboration and have taken a stand to stop the crime 
and the killings. Their No. 1 demand is for more police presence on 
their streets.

Chief Baker has promised to increase patrols but his $28 million 
budget and 174 police officers are stretched thin throughout the 
city's 40 square miles. With pockets of unemployment over 25 percent 
in parts of the city, crime was up 10 percent last year. Baker, along 
with Lee County Sheriff Mike Scott, is asking for more help from the 
community. "If you are afraid of being involved," said Scott, "call 
in an anonymous tip."

The U.S. has only 5 percent of the world's population but a 
staggering 25 percent of the world's prison population. There are 2.3 
million people in our prisons, over half of whom are in for 
drug-related offenses. One way to reduce the prison population is to 
legalize marijuana. Its overuse is less deadly than tobacco or alcohol overuse.

However, when it comes to cocaine, opiates, crystal meth and other 
potentially deadly drugs, there are few options. Legalization, 
decriminalization or draconian sentences, which exist in some 
countries, may not be the answer.

Lee County has a drug court where addicts, without a record of 
violence, gun possession, or dealing, can avoid jail time by 
completing a program administered by Southwest Florida Addiction 
Services. It is time to give those felons, convicted on trafficking 
in crack cocaine, a second chance.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom