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Thursday, November 5, 2009

By the Numbers — The Failed War on Drugs and It's Impact on South Carolina

Posted by Will Moredock on Thu, Nov 5, 2009 at 1:48 AM

The disaster that is America's war on drugs has many manifestations. One of them is the
unwarranted traffic stops many citizens undergo so that a cop may check us out and see if
he can smell some reefer burning in the car. Another is the high rate of crime, not just to
settle turf battles and rivalries among dealers, distributors and cheated buyers, but the
countless property crimes that fuel millions of drug habits across the nation. Then there is
the spread of HIV/AIDS by heroine users who do not have the means or the opportunity to
procure fresh needles. Another disaster has been the tens of millions of Americans arrested
and incarcerated in the 39 years since Richard Nixon declared war on drugs. Most alarming
of all is the wide disparity between blacks and whites who do time for drugs in South Carolina.
Below are some statistics compiled by the ACLU on effects of 39 years of drug war on our
state:

• For every dollar South Carolina spends on corrections, it spends only 49 cents on education.1

• South Carolina's overall incarceration rate ranks in the top fifth of states nationwide.2

• South Carolina's drug use rates are comparable to those of the rest of the country, yet South
Carolina's rate of imprisonment for drug offenses ranks seventh in the nation, putting an
unusually large burden on the state's taxpayers and justice system.3

• Whites and African Americans use drugs at virtually identical rates, yet in Charleston County,
you are 24 times more likely to go to jail or prison for a drug offense if you are African American
than if you are white. This racially disproportionate rate of imprisonment for drug offenses
ranks among the 50 worst for mid-sized counties in all of America.4

• In Richland County, you are 17 times more likely to go to jail or prison for a drug offense if you
are African American than if you are white.5

• In Greenville County, you are 14 times more likely to go to jail or prison for a drug offense if you
are African American than if you are white.6

A FRESH APPROACH…

South Carolina's bursting prisons paired with the ongoing economic crisis demand a fresh approach to
nonviolent drug offenses. Unfair and ineffective laws that require lengthy incarceration of nonviolent
drug offenders have squandered precious taxpayer dollars and pushed the state to the brink of
bankruptcy. "Lock 'em up and throw away the key" policies fail to recognize and resolve the root
causes of drug use and abuse, and undermine the health and safety of us all.

A FRESH LOOK AT SOUTH CAROLINA AND THE FAILED "WAR ON DRUGS"
SO, WHAT CAN OUR POLICYMAKERS DO?

• Create alternatives to incarceration: Eliminate imprisonment for all nonviolent drug
possession offenses, instituting civil penalties and non-prison alternatives, such as treatment,
which have been found more effective and cost-effective than incarceration.

• Let judges judge: Eliminate one-size-fits-all mandatory minimum sentences for drug offenses,
allowing judges to make appropriate sentencing decisions on a case-by-case basis.

• Repeal the "three strikes" law, which often senselessly punishes minor offenses with major
terms behind bars to the detriment of us all.

• Take practical steps to prevent recidivism: Facilitate reintegration into the community by
removing the barriers to voting, employment, housing, and driving that now face individuals
leaving prison. For example, remove provisions that suspend the driver's license of a drug
offender when there is no evidence that he or she was driving while impaired.

• Make room in prison for serious, violent offenders: Reform the State's parole system to bar reincarceration
for technical violations.

• Research the impact of drug sentencing: Finally, more state- and local-level data is needed to
better understand the fiscal and human costs of lengthy sentences for nonviolent drug
offenders. The State should make specific data available and collect new data where needed to
allow for an honest accounting of necessary reforms.

For the sake of public safety, fairness and South Carolina's fiscal solvency, a new approach is needed
and soon.

1 Pew Center on the States, "One in 100: Behind Bars in
America 2008," February 2008, p. 31.
2 Ibid, p. 34.
3 Justice Policy Institute, "The Vortex: The Concentrated Racial
Impact of Drug Imprisonment and the Characteristics of Punitive
Counties," December 2007, p. 9.
4 Ibid, Appendix A, p. 26. Charleston ranks #47, with an African American-towhite
drug prison or jail admission ratio of 24.
5 Ibid, p. 25.
6 Ibid, p. 25.

www.aclusouthcarolina.org

Comments (10) RSS

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Have you ever thought its not a racist thing with the drug users its the fact that Charleston is predominantly a African American low class city if there were more white people then it would even out to the amount that are in jail for illegal possession of drugs.

Posted by B0B0 on November 5, 2009 at 10:01 AM | Report this comment

According to the US Census Bureau, Charleston County (2008) is 66% white, 31% African American, and the city of Charleston (2000 Census) reported 61,000 whites and 33,000 African-Americans.

Posted by Yanping on November 5, 2009 at 11:25 AM | Report this comment

Here's an idea: Make simple possession of marijuana legal. Let the state sell cultivation licenses to individuals (like a hunting or fishing license) that would permit limited growing for personal use. Let the state sell licenses for sale of small quantities of state taxed marijuana. Take the proceeds from license sales and taxes on marijuana, and use it for treatment and rehabilitation programs for individuals hooked on hard drugs. When individuals are caught without the proper licenses, deal with it as a tax issue and garnish their wages instead of incarcerating these non violent offenders.

Posted by I P Yuengling on November 6, 2009 at 4:33 PM | Report this comment

Here's one of the pitchfork welding fanatics that supports this war.


June 29, 2009

Thank you for contacting me regarding the decriminalization of marijuana. As your Congressman, I appreciate hearing your thoughts and welcome every opportunity to be of service.



I understand your viewpoint that we should decriminalize marijuana. However, I believe that marijuana is a gateway drug -- one of the most commonly abused illicit drugs in our country. Marijuana use can result in significant health problems, and I do not agree with the viewpoint that marijuana users are not part of the problem. I also do not agree with the statement that our law enforcement should be targeting more serious crimes. Drug use, I believe, is a serious issue that we must address to prevent our future generations from ending up in jail on drug-related offenses. People that use this drug are breaking the law and they should be held accountable.



Despite your opinion that marijuana should be legal, the court systems in our nation have continued to view marijuana as an illegal substance. I believe that decriminalizing marijuana has been taken up by individual states, and some of our states have legalized the drug for medicinal reasons. I contend that legalizing marijuana would be harmful to our society, and that doing so would put more people at risk. Currently there is not any federal legislation that directly addresses the issue of decriminalizing marijuana, but should such legislation be introduced, please know that I will keep your thoughts in mind should it come up for a vote on the House floor.



Again, I want to thank you for contacting me. To get regular updates from my office sent to you by e-mail, please visit http://brown.house.gov/updates. I am honored to serve you in Congress and I look forward to hearing from you on other matters of interest or concern.






Sincerely,

Henry E. Brown, Jr.
Member of Congress


More Information: Home | E-News Sign-up | Constituent Services | Facebook | YouTube | My Blog

get this pug out of office!

Posted by spectre4 on November 6, 2009 at 6:50 PM | Report this comment

If you are looking for a copy editor, just let me know. I would've caught that unfortunate apostrophe in the title.

mlstafford at gmail.com

Posted by ohnoes on November 6, 2009 at 7:28 PM | Report this comment

How about we stop dicking around and legalize all drugs? Have some legal and some not doesn't work to the benefit of anyone except the narcs and cartels.

Posted by Sark on November 7, 2009 at 3:21 AM | Report this comment

Excellent comments. Not all original, but excellent anyway. Note to Rep. Brown: "I contend" is not an argument. If you have an educated point or counterpoint to make, make it, dammit, make it. I'm not sure I could really support the total legalization of ALL drugs, but as an alternative to the present situation, it would be the lesser evil. Or so I contend.

Posted by pugnax on November 7, 2009 at 10:55 AM | Report this comment

The percentage of blacks vs whites going to jail doesn't take in account prior offenses.

Posted by redblood on November 9, 2009 at 3:20 PM | Report this comment

"...It's Impact..." Really?

Posted by mat catastrophe on November 12, 2009 at 10:21 PM | Report this comment

Maybe if people actually knew the facts about the failure of the war on drugs or the medicinal value of marijuana, we could start spending our tax money in more effective and fair ways.

For more information, and to sign a petition to our state legislators, I suggest:
http://scmedicalmarijuana.ning.com

As for the disproportionate incarceration rate of African-Americans, it is not just a Charleston problem. It is nation wide. So the idea that Charleston's excuse is its socieconomic status as a Black working class city is irrelevant.

As for the prior offenses, those too are predominantly for drug offenses and are just as race-biased as the second and third offenses. Also, the disparity is in arrests as well as jail time, so the number of prior offenses is not a factor. Race-bias is a factor at every stage of the process.

Posted by openminded on November 14, 2009 at 5:00 PM | Report this comment

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