Obama Not Completely Silent on the Drug War

Although Arianna Huffington is correct in noting that the War on Drugs has not been a topic debated by democratic candidates for president, it is important to point out that Senator Obama has spoken out about drug war inequities during the course of this campaign. In an address at Howard University last fall he said the following:

"I think it's time we also took a hard look at the wisdom of locking up some first-time, non-violent drug users for decades. Someone once said that '...long minimum sentences for first-time users may not be the best way to occupy jail space and/or heal people from their disease.' That someone was George W. Bush - six years ago. I don't say this very often, but I agree with the president. The difference is, he hasn't done anything about it. When I'm president, I will. We will review these sentences to see where we can be smarter on crime and reduce the blind and counterproductive warehousing of non-violent offenders. And we will give first-time, non-violent drug offenders a chance to serve their sentence, where appropriate, in the type of drug rehabilitation programs that have proven to work better than a prison term in changing bad behavior. So let's reform this system. Let's do what's smart. Let's do what's just".

We were pleased that Senator Obama made the comments at Howard University because that is the host institution for the National African American Drug Policy Coalition. This is a coalition of over twenty five organizations of black professionals representing such diverse fields as law enforcement, health care and education who believe that the current war on drugs is misguided and destructive. The goal of the Coalition is to change national drug policy to make the war on drugs a public health battle rather than a criminal justice war.

The idea for the NAADPC arose from the work of attorney Clyde Bailey, 61st president of the National Bar Association. He recognized that the "drug problem" was not a singular problem but a multifaceted matter of crime, addiction and AIDS. Bailey had spoken to doctors and nurses who talked about the health issues of addiction and AIDS and who felt prosecution was not an appropriate or effective response to those issues. He spoke to public school teachers about their difficulties in educating children impacted by substance abuse. Social workers talked about family disruption and dysfunction and how the sins of one generation continued to affect the next because of the revolving door impacts of the criminal justice system. From these discussions, a clear picture emerged of the need for the people of diverse professions to come together to help move the country into a more positive and productive direction with respect to the War on Drugs. So in 2003, the NAADPC was established, and since that time its members have worked with local, state and national officials to implement more rational and humane drug control policies.

In all these efforts the clear need for enlightened presidential leadership has been demonstrated. Senator Obama's remarks notwithstanding, the relative silence by presidential candidates about the War on Drugs has been disappointing but not surprising. The next president will be in office when we commemorate the one hundredth anniversary of the Harrison Narcotics Act, which many consider to be the beginning of the war on drugs. Hopefully, the next president will listen to the voices of reform and instead of continuing this hundred-year war, he or she will find a new definition of victory and finally achieve peace in the War on Drugs.

Comments

[MalleusMaleficarum]

Richard Nixon launched the War on Drugs during his re-election campaign in 1972. From Nixon's perspective - and everyone else should take note - the War on Drugs was simply his translation of the Southern Strategy - ie. a politically motivated form of racism to satisfy the racist right. Blacks and Hispanics are disproportionately incarcerated in their millions. Yoked with criminal records from their early years, they are virtually unemployable, uninsurable and - important from Nixon's viewpoint - unvoteable - since so many states permanently revoke voting rights post conviction for felons. America should wake up. The War on Drugs is a race war that spreads its tentacles across the globe and strangles America's image throughout the Third World. The transformation of Columbia into a Narco State must be laid at the feet of the Nixonian drug war along with a growing mountain of corpses, shattered families and broken lives.

[devadasi]

The drug war is farce, as was prohibition in the 1920's. All drugs should be legalized. You'd see the crime rate decrease by 75%. All drugs were legal at one time in America. How do you think coca-cola got its name. It used to have cocaine in it. While I'm not for putting back the cocaine into coca-cola, I definitely believe in legalization of all drugs. The brilliant conservative William F. Buckley, Jr.
advocated legalization as well.

Have you ever been to Amsterdam, where pot is legal and can be puchased at almost any cafe? You may have also noticed that Amsterdam has no ghettos.

[mcole]

hear hear

[Yohomegirl]

Drugs, the White man's way of keeping the minorities down. BTW, I am 44, female and white. We must stop the flow of drugs coming into our country.

[RoloTomassi]

That is utter nonsense and is a completely futile exercise, as the idiotic War on Drugs has clearly illustrated. You cannot effectively prohibit what the people demand; you can outlaw drugs, but the drugs will flow anyway. And it is doubly absurd to make such statements about the flow of drugs into this country when our own government is one of the primary purveyors of substances that it deems illegal.

To stop the flow of drugs into the US would require the dismantling of DEA/CIA profit-making covert programs.

The ONLY sensible approach is at the very least decriminalization, and legalization, taxation and control is by far the most intelligent and reasonable approach to this issue.

[tedbear]

The so-called War on Drugs exists to placate the American people. If the government didn't want drugs in the country, they would keep them out. Because he is genuinely interested in the well-being of people, Senator Obama is a great prospect for some kind of reform.