cannabisnews.com: Drug War Failed, New Report Says Drug War Failed, New Report Says Posted by FoM on December 13, 2001 at 11:27:11 PT By Noel S. Brady, Journal Reporter Source: South County Journal Is it time to end the war on drugs? That's the title of a new drug policy report and the question being asked by its authors -- a consortium of state and county health and legal associations led by the King County Bar Association. All the groups agree the war on drugs has failed, and lawmakers should re-examine the effectiveness of placing nonviolent drug offenders behind bars. ``It's a truly remarkable document coming from these traditionally conservative establishment associations,'' said Jerry Sheehan, legislative director of the American Civil Liberties Union, after yesterday's unveiling of the bar's Drug Policy Project report. ``It gives the same message we've been giving for years: That the war on drugs is an abject failure under this current model.''The King County Bar Association started the project in the fall of 2000, assembling study teams for each facet of its three-prong approach to assessing the drug war-- prevention, treatment and criminal sanctions.The project enlisted current and past top officials of the King County bar as well as the Washington State Bar Association, the King County Medical Association, the Washington State Medical Association and the Washington State Pharmacy Association.They all agreed the status quo for fighting drugs is doing more harm than good. While laws in Washington have doubled prison terms for drug offenders since the late 1980s, statistics show the state continues to lose ground in curbing the problem.``We feel that we need far more attention paid to prevention and treatment than on criminal sanctions,'' said King County Bar Association President Ralph Mainor. ``We believe the war on drugs hasn't been effective.'' Police see it differently As a narcotics detective for several years, King County sheriff's spokesman Sgt. John Urquhart said he's seen the failures of the drug war first hand. But he disagrees with the report's finding that drug offenders shouldn't have to serve time for their crimes.``The war on drugs as it's been fought for 20 years hasn't been working,'' Urquhart said. ``But eliminating incarceration is not the solution. There are some people who only respond to incarceration.'' Recommendations In its most basic terms, the Drug Policy Project report recommends a renewed debate on how to fight drugs. Specifically, it offers detailed findings and recommendations for each of its three areas of concern.For drug abuse prevention, the report recommends focusing on alcohol, tobacco and other drugs (in that order) when educating children about the risks involved. And it suggests attacking all related societal issues with more school- and community-based programs.To provide better treatment, the associations suggest the state make drug treatment available to every Washington resident who wants and needs it. The program should include a broad spectrum of assistance, including mental health treatment. And special effort should be made to provide treatment for children.As for criminal sanctions, the group says the current legal system spends much more money on trying and incarcerating drug offenders than would be spent on increasing prevention and treatment. Rather than sending drug offenders to jails and prisons, the group suggests courts use resources to bring treatment to drug users. Not legalization The report doesn't recommend decriminalization. But it does criticize the way children have been strongly discouraged from using drugs. ``Experimentation with these substances is inevitable for many adolescents,'' the report states.Rather than using scare tactics and exaggerated information about the dangers of certain drugs, like marijuana, in comparison to alcohol and tobacco, such as the D.A.R.E. program's approach, the report recommends educational programs target high-risk youth with honest and realistic information.Complete Title: Drug War Failed, New Report Says - Association Says Lawmakers Should Re-examine Drug LawsSource: South County Journal (WA)Author: Noel S. Brady, Journal ReporterPublished: December 13, 2001Copyright: 2001 Horvitz Newspapers, Inc.Website: http://www.southcountyjournal.com/Contact: letterstoeditor southcountyjournal.comRelated Articles:A Unified Call To End War on Drugs http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread11558.shtmlProhibit Prohibition - Michael Sheridan Williams http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread11534.shtmlSeek Remedy for Disastrous Drug War http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread11246.shtml Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #3 posted by Lehder on December 13, 2001 at 13:18:24 PT Drug Warriors are Dangerous to Civilization "There are some people who only respond to incarceration."Like ignorant, hateful Drug Warriors. And I will not regard this war as over until they are locked up in a place where they must pay for their crimes and cannot broadcast their lies or destroy and diminish the lives of people far better than they. This war will not be over until we can say, "Never Again." [ Post Comment ] Comment #2 posted by qqqq on December 13, 2001 at 13:16:13 PT ...Golly....Who knew?....glad we got this report! ..." Drug War Failed, New Report Says - Association Says Lawmakers Should Re-examine Drug Laws".. .......Well I'll be dipped in shit!.....sure is good the King County Bar Association filed this somewhat spineless, wishy-washy report.......Last weeks report from the folks at the King County Bar Association,was titled;"Butts Smell Bad, Especially After Taking A Crap!". .....The "drug war",is a sham and a fraud to begin with,,,so this "report",is about as enlightening as the new butt report............I was born in King County....dddd [ Post Comment ] Comment #1 posted by TroutMask on December 13, 2001 at 12:24:20 PT Some people have their heads buried... "There are some people who only respond to incarceration."Yeah, so "kill 'em all and let God sort them out."Beautiful logic.-Les [ Post Comment ] Post Comment