Pubdate: Sun, 02 Aug 2015
Source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch (MO)
Copyright: 2015 St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Contact:  http://www.stltoday.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/418
Author: Robert Sharpe
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v15/n424/a03.html

WAR ON SOME DRUGS IS A POLICY FAILURE

Thank you for making the case for drug decriminalization in the 
editorial "Descriminalizacao" (July 26).

There is a misguided effort underway nationwide to replace the 
punitive drug war with drug courts. This effort is effectively a war 
on non-corporate drugs funded by taxpayers and carried out with the 
heavy hand of a bloated criminal justice system. Drug courts use drug 
tests and the threat of jail to force illicit drug users to switch to 
legal alcohol or prescription pharmaceuticals, both of which are 
arguably more harmful than marijuana, the most popular illicit drug.

Coerced drug treatment is admittedly cheaper than incarceration. It's 
cheaper still to decriminalize drug use and leave adults who aren't 
harming others alone. Drug use and drug prohibition are two very 
different things. Drug prohibition fosters crime, corruption and violence.

Incarcerating nonviolent consumers does absolutely nothing to reduce 
this collateral damage. The war on some drugs is an expensive policy failure.

Creating a kinder, gentler drug war by marrying the for-profit prison 
industry to a growing for-profit treatment industry is not the answer.

Robert Sharpe     Washington, D.C.

Policy analyst, Common Sense for Drug Policy
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom