Pubdate: Thu, 27 Sep 2012
Source: Sacramento News & Review (CA)
Copyright: 2012 Chico Community Publishing, Inc.
Contact:  http://newsreview.com/sacto/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/540
Author: Robert Sharpe
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v12/n460/a04.html

RACISM IS INTEGRAL TO DRUG POLICY

Re "Jim Crow 2012" by Jeff vonKaenel (SN&R Greenlight, September
13):

The drug war has been waged in a racist manner since its inception.
The Harrison Narcotics Act of 1914 was preceded by a wave of
anti-immigrant sentiment. Opium was identified with Chinese laborers,
marijuana with Mexicans and cocaine with African-Americans. Racial
profiling continues to be the norm, despite similar rates of drug use
for minorities and whites. Support for the drug war would end
overnight if whites were incarcerated for drugs at the same rate as
minorities. The drug war is a cultural inquisition, not a
public-health campaign.

Prison cells are inappropriate as health interventions and ineffective
as deterrents. It's time to declare peace in the failed drug war and
begin treating all substance abuse, legal or otherwise, as the
public-health problem it is. Thanks to public-education efforts,
tobacco use has declined without any need to wage war on tobacco
addicts and farmers. Mandatory minimum prison sentences, civil asset
forfeiture, random drug testing and racial profiling are not the most
cost-effective means of discouraging unhealthy choices.

Robert Sharpe policy analyst, Common Sense for Drug Policy
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MAP posted-by: Matt