{news} War on drugs is a war on youth, people of color

Wed May 16 12:27:12 EDT 2007

      War on drugs is a war on
       youth, people of color
      Green Party of the United States
      www.gp.org<http://www.gp.org/>

      May 16, 2007

      http://www.gp.org/press/pr_2007_05_16.shtml<http://www.gp.org/press/pr_2007_05_16.shtml>

      Contacts:
      Scott McLarty, Media Coordinator, 202-518-5624, mclarty at greens.org<mailto:mclarty at greens.org>
      Starlene Rankin, Media Coordinator, 916-995-3805, starlene at gp.org<mailto:starlene at gp.org>

        a.. Greens call for realistic debate in the 2008 Presidential race on the War on Drugs  

        b.. Democratic and Republican politicians are ignoring the human and economic devastation caused by failed drug policies, unjust laws, and targeting of young people, the poor, and African Americans and Latinos, say Green Party leaders 

      WASHINGTON, DC -- Green Party leaders called for a national discussion on how the US's 'war on drugs' has turned into a war on young people, the poor, and African Americans, Latinos, and other people of color. 

      "The human and economic devastation caused by the war on drugs is missing from the range of debate among both Democratic and Republican presidential candidates. Politicians from these parties, when asked about drug policies, prefer to posture about law and order and endorse failed measures. These politicians don't realize that going along to get along makes one complicit said Cliff Thornton, Green candidate for Governor of Connecticut in 2006 and co-founder of Efficacy, Inc. <http://www.efficacy-online.org<http://www.efficacy-online.org/>>, which promotes major reforms in drug policy. 

      Greens cited a study by the American Civil Liberties Union ("Cracks in the System: Twenty Years of Unjust Federal Crack Cocaine Law," October 2006, <http://www.aclu.org/pdfs/drugpolicy/cracksinsystem_20061025.pdf<http://www.aclu.org/pdfs/drugpolicy/cracksinsystem_20061025.pdf>>), 37% of people arrested, 59% of people convicted, and 74% of those sent to prison are African American, even though only 15% of drug users are African American. 

      The Associated Press <http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/nation/20061130-9999-1n30nation.html<http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/nation/20061130-9999-1n30nation.html>> has reported that "a record 7 million people -- or one in every 32 American adults -- were behind bars, on probation or on parole by the end of last year, according to the Justice Department.... From 1995 to 2003, inmates in federal prison for drug offenses have accounted for 49 percent of total prison population growth." 

      In state prisons, 260,000 people were serving sentences on nonviolent drug charges in 2005, of whom more than 70% were African American or Latino <http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/abstract/p05.htm<http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/abstract/p05.htm>>.  The Department of Justice's Bureau of Justice Statistics reports that nearly one in eight drug prisoners (45,000 Americans) are behind bars for marijuana-related offenses. 

      Green leaders also strongly criticized the punitive denial of financial aid to students with drug convictions, and supported Students for a Sensible Drug Policy <http://www.ssdp.org<http://www.ssdp.org/>> in their effort to persuade Congress to reinstate such aid. 

      "The war on drugs is an excuse to ignore the US Constitution's prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment, with long prison sentences for minor and nonviolent offenses. The drug war is meant to be waged, not won," added Mr. Thornton. "This is in part a result of pressure on elected officials from the private prison industry lobby, which seeks to build new prisons and fill up cells in order to win government giveaways and increase corporate profits. The Green Party calls for a public debate that challenges the rhetoric of Democratic and Republican politicians who are under influence of these companies, and that recognizes how the war on drugs has only resulted in more crime and violence." 

      "We need to stop spending $50 billion a year on the drug war, and use that money for treatment.  We need to repeal mandatory sentencing laws, which override judges' discretion in determining prison time, and 'three strikes' laws that send people -- mostly the poor and people of color -- away for life on nonviolent and minor felonies," said Kevin Zeese, 2006 candidate for the US Senate candidate in Maryland and president of Common Sense for Drug Policy <http://www.csdp.org<http://www.csdp.org/>>. 

      The Green Party's national platform <http://www.gp.org/platform/2004<http://www.gp.org/platform/2004>> endorses decriminalization of victimless crimes, such as the possession of small amounts of marijuana; an end to the war on drugs; expanded drug counseling and treatment; and an end to arrest of 'medical marijuana' arrests and prosecution. 

      "Law enforcement should focus efforts on organized crime, including the laundering of drug money at banks, rather than on street-level drug trade, in which kids who get arrested -- or killed -- are quickly replaced," said Nan Garrett, Co-Chair of the National Women's Caucus of the Green Party and 2002 candidate for Governor of Georgia. "Addictive use should be treated as a medical and social problem. Locking up addicts in stressed prison environments, with minimal effort to address the addiction itself, and then freeing them to go back into the same circumstances that led to their abuse of drugs has only aggravated the problem of addiction.  Greens endorse rational solutions to the problems of drug abuse that are based on science and health, compassion for addicts and their families, reduction of harm rather than moral judgment, and respect for basic civil liberties and principles of justice." 

      MORE INFORMATION

      Green Party of the United States
      http://www.gp.org<http://www.gp.org/>
      1700 Connecticut Avenue NW, Suite 404
      Washington, DC 20009.
      202-319-7191, 866-41GREEN
      Fax 202-319-7193

      Green Party News Center
      http://www.gp.org/newscenter.shtml<http://www.gp.org/newscenter.shtml> 

      Drug War Facts:

      Drug Offenders In The Corrections System - Prisons, Jails and Probation
      http://www.drugwarfacts.org/prison.htm<http://www.drugwarfacts.org/prisonhtm>  

      Race, Prison and the Drug Laws (with information on the disproportionate incarceration of African Americans and other people of color) 
      http://www.drugwarfacts.org/racepris.htm<http://www.drugwarfacts.org/racepris.htm>  

      Crime (with information on the correlation between drug prohibition and violence) 
      http://www.drugwarfacts.org/crime.htm<http://www.drugwarfacts.org/crime.htm>  


      ___ 

      Disclaimer: State, local, and candidate press releases made available here represent the opinions of the original source only.  Opinions expressed by a state party or candidate do not necessarily represent the views of the Green Party of the United States. State party contact information, when provided with candidate releases, does not imply state party endorsement of the opinions expressed nor of the candidate (prior to gaining formal nomination by the party).
      ___ 

      Office: PO Box 57065 Washington, D.C. 20037  
      Email: office at gp.org<mailto:office at gp.org> 202-319-7191 or toll-free (US): 866-41GREEN 
     

Efficacy
PO Box 1234
860 657 8438
Hartford, CT 06143
efficacy at msn.com<mailto:efficacy at msn.com>
www.Efficacy-online.org<http://www.efficacy-online.org/>
 
"THE DRUG WAR IS MEANT TO BE WAGED NOT WON"

Working to end race and class drug war injustice, Efficacy is a non profit
501 (c) 3 organization founded in 1997. Your gifts and donations are tax
deductible
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