What your government doesn't tell you
about the war on drugs
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Your Government and its "War On Drugs" is Far More Dangerous to You and Your
Loved Ones than Drugs Themselves!
1. The United States has a larger percentage of its population in prison
than any country on Earth. Over 1.7 million human beings languish behind bars.
Well over sixty percent of federal prisoners, and a significant fraction of
state and local prisoners, are non-violent drug offenders, mostly first time
offenders. Due to the War on Drugs, we have become the world's leading jailer. 1
out of 35 Americans is under the control of the Criminal Justice System. If
present incarceration rates hold steady, 1 out of 20 Americans, 1 out of 11 men,
and 1 out of 4 Black men in this country today can expect to spend some part of
their life in prison.
Sources: Bureau of Justice Statistics,
Nation's Probation and Parole Population Reached Almost 3.9 Million Last Year,
(press release), Washington D.C.: U.S. Department of Justice (1997, August 14).
Bonczar, T.P. & Beck, A.J., Lifetime Likelihood of Going to State or Federal
Prison, Washington D.C.: Bureau of Justice Statistics, U.S. Department of
Justice (1997, March), p. 1.
Currie, E., Crime and Punishment in America, New York, NY: Metropolitan Books,
Henry Holt and Company, Inc. (1998), p. 3.
2. One out of three young African American (ages 18 to 35) men in the
United States are in prison or on some form of supervised release. The Drug War
is clearly a race war. Our country has more African American men in prison than
in college. We call ourselves the Land of the Free, yet we have a four times
higher percentage of Black men in prison than South Africa at the height of
apartheid, an official national policy of institutionalized racism.
Sources: Substance Abuse and Mental Health
Services Administration, National Household Survey on Drug Abuse: Population
Estimates 1996, Rockville, MD: Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services
Administration (1997), p. 19, Table 2D;
Bureau of Justice Statistics, Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics 1996,
Washington D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office (1997), p. 382, Table 4.10, and
p. 533, Table 6.36;
Bureau of Justice Statistics, Prisoners in 1996, Washington D.C.: U.S.
Government Printing Office (1997), p. 10, Table 13.
3. One out of nine school-age children has one or both parents in prison.
At the present exponential increase in incarceration, this number will be one
out of four alarmingly soon. We are breeding an entire generation of embittered
and disenfranchised "prison orphans". We are losing an entire generation of
young people.
Sources: Califano, Joseph, Behind Bars:
Substance Abuse and America's Prison Population, Forward by Joseph Califano. The
National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University (1998).
Families Against Mandatory Minimums (FAMM).
The Consequences of Mandatory Minimums, Federal Judicial Center Report, 1994.
4. The average sentence for a first time, non-violent drug offender is
longer than the average sentence for rape, child molestation, bank robbery or
manslaughter. As our prisons rapidly fill to bursting, rapists and murderers are
being given early release to make room for "no parole" drug offenders. While law
enforcement continues to go after relatively easy drug violation arrests, every
major city in this country has a record number of unsolved homicides.
Sources: Families Against Mandatory
Minimums (FAMM).
The Consequences of Mandatory Minimums, Federal Judicial Center Report, 1994.
The Lindesmith Center; Ethan Nadlemann, Director
5. Every year, 8,000 to 14,000 people die from illegal drugs in this
country. Every year, over 500,000 people die from legal drugs (Tobacco, liquor
and prescriptions). This is roughly a fifty to one ratio. Alcohol alone is
involved in seven times more violent crimes than all illegal substances
combined. Yet our Government continues to hugely subsidize alcohol and tobacco,
while demonizing those who would exercise a different choice.
Sources: Califano, Joseph, Behind Bars:
Substance Abuse and America's Prison Population, Forward by Joseph Califano. The
National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University (1998).
6. It's been empirically shown that education and treatment is seven
times more cost effective than arrest and incarceration for substance addiction,
yet we continue to spend more tax dollars on prisons than treatment. In this
'Land of Liberty', we spend more money on prisons than on schools. We are
clearly addicted to mass punishment of consensual 'crimes' on a staggering
scale. The sheer magnitude of all the human misery generated in our government's
war on it's own people is truly terrifying.
Sources: Rydell, C.P. & Everingham, S.S.,
Controlling Cocaine, Prepared for the Office of National Drug Control Policy and
the United States Army, Santa Monica, CA: Drug Policy Research Center, RAND
(1994).
The Lindesmith Center; Ethan Nadlemann, Director
7. Federal prosecutors reportedly have a 98% conviction rate, and federal
appellate courts reject 98% of appeals. The American Bar Association says this
number should be closer to 60-70%. Does this mean that over 30% of those jailed
are technically or literally innocent? (Do we really trust our government to do
anything with 98% efficiency?) The nearly limitless and clearly unconstitutional
powers that have been handed to the U.S. Attorneys by Congress is mind blowing
in the extreme. The Bill of Rights is rapidly becoming a fond memory.
Sources: The Consequences of Mandatory
Minimums, Federal Judicial Center Report, 1994.
H.R. 3396, The Citizens Protection Act of 1998, sponsored by Rep. Joseph McDade.
The National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL).
Punch and Jurists: The Cutting Edge Guide to Criminal Law
The American Bar Association (ABA).
8. If Newt Gingrich has his way, you can be given the death penalty for
'trafficking' in two ounces of marijuana. Former 'Drug Czar' William Bennett
(author of 'The Book of Virtues'!) has advocated the public beheading of
convicted drug offenders. LA Police Chief Daryl Gates has publicly stated that
casual drug users should be taken from the court room and summarily executed. We
are rapidly approaching a totalitarian police state, where absolute power flows
directly from wealth, and any deviation from the officially mandated status quo
can mean incarceration, torture or even death.
Sources: H.R. 41: The Drug Importer
Death Penalty Act of 1997, by Rep. Newt Gingrich.
Ain't Nobody's Business If You Do, by Peter McWilliams. (Prelude Press)
9. The prohibition of alcohol in the early part of this century financed
the birth of the present day criminal underground. The prohibition of drugs has
given incredible power to the inner city street gangs, and put hundreds of
millions of dollars into their hands. A generation ago, they fought with knives
and brass knuckles. Now they have submachine guns and high explosives. We have
turned our cities into war zones.
Sources: Drug Crazy, by Mike Gray, [Random
House, 240 pages, $23.95; Publication date June 15, 1998]
The Lindesmith Center; Ethan Nadlemann, Director
10. Because drug crimes are consensual, with no citizens filing charges,
the Government has had to get very creative to motivate suspects to testify
against each other in trial. Known criminals are routinely paid hundreds of
thousands of dollars, and offered virtual immunity, luxurious perks, and
drastically reduced sentences for their information and testimony. Bartered for
perjury is rampant. Our prisons are full to bursting with innocent victims. More
and more, Federal prosecutors are acquiring almost unlimited powers in the
courtroom. They set sentences; they dictate trial protocol; they have turned
purchased betrayal of family and friends into a high art form. Judges in Federal
trials are fast becoming mere automations.
Sources: The Consequences of Mandatory
Minimums, Federal Judicial Center Report, 1994.
H.R. 3396, The Citizens Protection Act of 1998, sponsored by Rep. Joseph McDade.
Ain't Nobody's Business If You Do, by Peter McWilliams. (Prelude Press)
11. I have reviewed and studied literally hundreds of cases in
preparation for this project, and I keep seeing the same alarming trend. The
drug "kingpins" and professional criminals continually plea-bargain their way to
freedom, or leave the country with all their wealth, while the low level
offenders and innocent patsies, with no information to trade for leniency, and
no resources for an adequate defense, are sentenced to insanely long terms. We
are warring on the afflicted and the vulnerable.
Sources: Families Against Mandatory
Minimums (FAMM).
The Consequences of Mandatory Minimums, Federal Judicial Center Report, 1994.
H.R. 3396 - Citizens Protection Act of 1998 - A bill to establish standards of
conduct for Department of Justice employees, and to establish a review board to
monitor compliance with such standards.
12. In thirty years of "The War On Drugs", our government hasn't managed
to accomplish even a small reduction in drug dealing and abuse, yet we have
spent almost a trillion dollars. ONE TRILLION DOLLARS! That is a huge fraction
of the total national debt. All we've done is fill up our prisons at a
terrifying rate, and pay homage to meaningless, mean-spirited rhetoric, like
"Zero Tolerance" and "Just Say No" and "Tough on Crime." By current estimates,
we need to build a complete new Federal prison every two weeks just to keep up
with the demand. At the present exponential rate of incarceration, we will have
half of our population in prison within fifty years. Is this how we want to
greet the new millennium? We will rip this nation to pieces.
Sources: Families Against Mandatory Minimums (FAMM).
The Lindesmith Center; Ethan Nadlemann, Director
13. It has been estimated that almost 10% of international trade is in
profits from illicit substances. Some third world countries count narco-dollars
as a significant fraction of their gross national product. While the drug war
destroys countless lives among the working and peasant classes, the privileged
elite grows wealthy beyond imagining. There is a strong economic incentive to
keep the war going ad infinitum. While our elected officials pay lip service to
'a drug free America', the CIA is routinely involved with massive international
drug-trafficking to finance its covert operations.
Sources: Associated Press, "U.N. Estimates
Drug Business Equal to 8 Percent of World Trade," (June 1997).
The San Jose Mercury Press; DARK ALLIANCE, by Gary Webb.
Trade and Environment Database (TED), TED Case Studies: Columbia Coca Trade,
Washington D.C.: American University (1997), p. 4.
14. Don't think for a minute that you and your family are immune, because
"we don't do drugs". As the Criminal Justice juggernaut swells out of control,
"innocent until proven guilty" has lost all meaning. You can be sucked into the
prison-industrial complex on little more than a whim, and spend a lifetime
trying to find relief. An evening spent with the wrong crowd; a moment of
rebellion or bad judgment, and your sons and daughters will fall victim. It has
become insanely easy to prove conspiracy based on mere association and bartered
for hearsay. Drugs are everywhere, from the inner city ghettos to the gated
estates of the privileged classes. One mistake, one moment of unfortunate
coincidence, and your loved ones will be gone, locked up for ten years to life.
One day soon, it will happen to you, or your family, or your friends; make no
mistake. This madness must stop.
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