Jacob Bell
New Member
When you are living in a nation with 5 percent of the world's population yet 25 percent of the world's prisoners, according to a New York Times article printed on Oct. 29 "Falling Crime, Teeming Prisons," it's pretty clear that things are a bit off. Government spending on prisons has reached $77 billion a year, according to the same article. In a less-than-perfect economy, it's time for all the talk of reform to get put into action.
Despite the fact that crime rates have grown to levels not seen since the mid 1960s, the overall rate of incarceration in the past 30 years has increased by more than 500 percent. According the the Pew Research Center, around one in 100 adults in the United States are kept behind bars, and a significant portion of this population is comprised of non-violent drug offenders.
It is evident today that the "War on Drugs," launched by Richard Nixon in the '70s and amplified by Ronald Reagan in the '80s, is outdated and ineffective. Making drugs illegal rather than regulating them has led to a highly profitable black market. Prohibition didn't work then, and it isn't working now. Forget what they tell you in school books, the "War on Drugs" has in fact become the longest and most expensive war in American history.
The Global Commission on Drug Policy, comprised of former presidents of Mexico, Brazil, Columbia, former U.N. and U.S. officials and the current prime minister of Greece, among others, has banded together to publicize the urgent need for reform on drug control policies. The Commission released a statement this past June stating, "Political leaders and public figures should have the courage to articulate publicly what many of them acknowledge privately: that the evidence overwhelmingly demonstrates that repressive strategies will not solve the drug problem, and that the war on drugs has not, and cannot, be won," as reported by CBS News.
With a growing concern for overcrowded prisons, California spending more government money on prisons than on education and news that Los Angeles County jails could run out of space as early as next month, we must decide who really needs to be put behind bars.
In a nation where taxpayers foot the bill for a prison system influenced more by politics than bringing about justice, the National Criminal Justice Commission Act deserves another look. First introduced in 2009 by Senator Jim Webb, the act calls for a bipartisan commission which would examine the criminal justice system and make recommendations for its improvement. "The bill is supported by organizations across the political spectrum, from the NAACP and the ACLU to the National Sheriffs' Association and the Fraternal Order of Police.," as stated in Huffington Post article, "Congress on Speed: Partisan Conflict Led to Many Problems in 1986 Drug Law" by Eric Sterling printed on Nov. 1. Despite passing in the House in 2010, the bill has recently been blocked by the Republicans in the senate. However, Webb has stated he feels this is only a minor setback and will continue to push for criminal justice reform.
Government's focus on punishment rather than prevention has resulted in half of all police resources working to stop drug trafficking, rather than to curb violent crime. A zero-tolerance attitude towards drugs established with 1986's Anti-Drug Abuse Act has done little to reduce rates of drug use in the U.S. "Every year since its passage, America has grown thousands of tons of the world's strongest marijuana, produced hundreds of millions of doses of synthetic drugs, and sent tens of billions of dollars into the accounts of drug traffickers around the world," notes president of the Criminal Justice Policy Foundation Eric E. Sterling in Huffington Post article, "Congress on Speed: Partisan Conflict Led to Many Problems in 1986 Drug Law".
Greater focus in drug offense cases should be placed on treatment and rehabilitation to increase public safety. "Far too often," reports New York Times editorial, "Falling Crime, Teeming Prisons" printed on Oct. 29, "prison has become a warehouse for people with drug or alcohol addiction." Drug treatment programs would not only reduce the number of nonviolent criminals in our prison system, but would significantly decrease cost for taxpayers, with treatment programs averaging $20,000 less per person per year than incarceration for offenders.
The increasingly conservative opposition often fails to recognize that drug use is not likely to see significant decrease, whether it is legal or not. As long as the public has a demand, there will be a supplier who gets the product out there, whether through legal regulation and taxation or organized and dangerous crime.
Today, many college students' attitudes toward drugs are not so different from those toward alcohol. While drug use may be slightly more frowned upon in society, it has been on the rise for decades, as nearly half of full-time college students binge drink or abuse drugs at least once a month, according to a 2007 study by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University.
The "War on Drugs" needs to take a cue from 1920s prohibition reforms. For a stronger economy and safer nation, it's time for a change.
Source: Los Angeles Loyolan (CA Edu)
Copyright: 2011 Los Angeles Loyolan
Website: Los Angeles Loyolan : Your home. Your voice. Your news.
Despite the fact that crime rates have grown to levels not seen since the mid 1960s, the overall rate of incarceration in the past 30 years has increased by more than 500 percent. According the the Pew Research Center, around one in 100 adults in the United States are kept behind bars, and a significant portion of this population is comprised of non-violent drug offenders.
It is evident today that the "War on Drugs," launched by Richard Nixon in the '70s and amplified by Ronald Reagan in the '80s, is outdated and ineffective. Making drugs illegal rather than regulating them has led to a highly profitable black market. Prohibition didn't work then, and it isn't working now. Forget what they tell you in school books, the "War on Drugs" has in fact become the longest and most expensive war in American history.
The Global Commission on Drug Policy, comprised of former presidents of Mexico, Brazil, Columbia, former U.N. and U.S. officials and the current prime minister of Greece, among others, has banded together to publicize the urgent need for reform on drug control policies. The Commission released a statement this past June stating, "Political leaders and public figures should have the courage to articulate publicly what many of them acknowledge privately: that the evidence overwhelmingly demonstrates that repressive strategies will not solve the drug problem, and that the war on drugs has not, and cannot, be won," as reported by CBS News.
With a growing concern for overcrowded prisons, California spending more government money on prisons than on education and news that Los Angeles County jails could run out of space as early as next month, we must decide who really needs to be put behind bars.
In a nation where taxpayers foot the bill for a prison system influenced more by politics than bringing about justice, the National Criminal Justice Commission Act deserves another look. First introduced in 2009 by Senator Jim Webb, the act calls for a bipartisan commission which would examine the criminal justice system and make recommendations for its improvement. "The bill is supported by organizations across the political spectrum, from the NAACP and the ACLU to the National Sheriffs' Association and the Fraternal Order of Police.," as stated in Huffington Post article, "Congress on Speed: Partisan Conflict Led to Many Problems in 1986 Drug Law" by Eric Sterling printed on Nov. 1. Despite passing in the House in 2010, the bill has recently been blocked by the Republicans in the senate. However, Webb has stated he feels this is only a minor setback and will continue to push for criminal justice reform.
Government's focus on punishment rather than prevention has resulted in half of all police resources working to stop drug trafficking, rather than to curb violent crime. A zero-tolerance attitude towards drugs established with 1986's Anti-Drug Abuse Act has done little to reduce rates of drug use in the U.S. "Every year since its passage, America has grown thousands of tons of the world's strongest marijuana, produced hundreds of millions of doses of synthetic drugs, and sent tens of billions of dollars into the accounts of drug traffickers around the world," notes president of the Criminal Justice Policy Foundation Eric E. Sterling in Huffington Post article, "Congress on Speed: Partisan Conflict Led to Many Problems in 1986 Drug Law".
Greater focus in drug offense cases should be placed on treatment and rehabilitation to increase public safety. "Far too often," reports New York Times editorial, "Falling Crime, Teeming Prisons" printed on Oct. 29, "prison has become a warehouse for people with drug or alcohol addiction." Drug treatment programs would not only reduce the number of nonviolent criminals in our prison system, but would significantly decrease cost for taxpayers, with treatment programs averaging $20,000 less per person per year than incarceration for offenders.
The increasingly conservative opposition often fails to recognize that drug use is not likely to see significant decrease, whether it is legal or not. As long as the public has a demand, there will be a supplier who gets the product out there, whether through legal regulation and taxation or organized and dangerous crime.
Today, many college students' attitudes toward drugs are not so different from those toward alcohol. While drug use may be slightly more frowned upon in society, it has been on the rise for decades, as nearly half of full-time college students binge drink or abuse drugs at least once a month, according to a 2007 study by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University.
The "War on Drugs" needs to take a cue from 1920s prohibition reforms. For a stronger economy and safer nation, it's time for a change.
Source: Los Angeles Loyolan (CA Edu)
Copyright: 2011 Los Angeles Loyolan
Website: Los Angeles Loyolan : Your home. Your voice. Your news.
