Point Reyes Light - August 24, 2000
400,000 now imprisoned in endless US 'drug war'
After 15 years, the US government's "War on Drugs" appears to have bogged down in a quagmire of beefed-up arrests and increased prison sentences that have now put about 400,000 people - almost a quarter of the nation's incarcerated population - behind bars on drug charges.
Nowhere has the war been fought harder than California, which has locked up more of its adult population for nonviolent drug charges than any other state in the nation, according to a recent study of 1996 US Justice Department statistics.
The organization Human Rights Watch determined in their study that there are 91 people serving drug sentences in California prisons for every 100,000 adults in the state. In Texas, the only state with a larger overall prison population, 37 out of 100,000 adults are serving time for drug offenses.
The state Department of Corrections estimates that about 40 percent of its 152,000 prisoners are doing time on drug charges alone, and as many as 40 percent more have been sentenced for drug charges plus more serious offenses, said spokesperson Margot Bach.
Drugs in prison Drugs inside the prison system remain a problem because of their high value in its underground economy, she said. They are usually smuggled in by visitors or hidden in the mail, although a handful of corrections departments have been caught in recent years participating in the prison drug trade, she said.
Recent budgets have provided the corrections department more money for drug treatment facilities, parole officers, and counseling programs to combat recidivism, Bock said. The department's efforts to make drug treatment available reflects shifting attitudes towards the national drug policy's strong emphasis on arrest and incarceration, she said.
Last year, national drug czar Barry McCaffrey conceded that the war on drugs has created a "drug gulag" that sends hundreds of thousands of people to prison each year. More recently, he has promoted programs to enroll non-violent heroin addicts in neighborhood treatment centers.
Methadone cheaper McCaffrey told The Light it makes more sense to spend $8,000 a year to provide an addict with methadone treatment than spending $26,000 a year to lock them up. "There are about 170,00 people in methadone treatment," he said. "There are many proven drug treatment programs, and without question they reduce the costs of addicts to our society."
Still, McCaffrey said the federal government is not ready to recognize voter initiatives to legalize marijuana for medical use or otherwise decriminalize controlled substances. "Federal law is unaffected by local referendums," the drug czar said. "The law is the same. It is illegal to grow, possess, and smoke marijuana. If this is going to be used as a legalization tool, then I oppose it."
But California voters now seem ready to decriminalize drugs through Proposition 36, the Substance Abuse and Crime Prevention Act, a ballot initiative in this November's election that would send non-violent drug offenders to treatment centers instead of prison. As of last week, little-known had Prop 36 had a 10-point lead in an opinion poll, according to Newsweek.
Divert users to treatment If passed by voters, the new law would divert 25,000 offenders a year to treatment centers instead of state prisons, saving the state up to $250 million a year. Legislative analysts also estimate Prop 36 would save California as much as $575 million in new prison construction.
Although McCaffrey may oppose Prop. 36, it has been endorsed by various medical and legal organizations, including the California Nurses Association, California Attorneys for Criminal Justice, and Mental Health Association of California. It has also been endorsed by West Marin's representatives in Sacramento, Assemblywoman Kerry Mazzoni and state Senator John Burton.