DPFOK COMMENTARY PAGE

We continue to foolishly bankrupt ourselves by sending sick people to jails and prisons, rather than spending the money on education and treatment for both kids and adults. Oklahoma Rep. Al Lindley suggested our current course is unsustainable, that we are shooting ourselves in the foot.

Rather than building new jails and prisons for non-violent drug offenders he proposes Mental Health Courts as an infinitely better and far less expensive solution. That we continue to dismiss the warnings and predictions of the experts about major hit disasters is a comment on our morality myths. With regards to the war on drugs/drug prohibition why ignore that a major self inflicted perhaps fatal social wound is in the making?

DPFOK EXTENDS OPEN INVITATION:

The current policy of drug prohibition isn't working, from a legal or financial point of view. It's also not working from a social or ethical point of view, as addicts are marginalized and treated as criminals.

Once people become addicts we write them off. No one intentionally wishes to become a drug/alcohol/nicotine addict. Only the wealthy can afford treatment in a for-profit health care system. Drug addiction is a public health issue rather than a criminal one.

Kids can get illicit drugs easier than beer, because beer is controlled rather than illicit. Control, regulation, and taxation of all drugs removes the profit motive and would end the billions spent on enforcement that should be spent on education and treatment.

The follies of our country's drug war are deeply corroding. Although many are opposed to the current course and will speak against it, virtually no one can be found who will speak in favor of it.

The DPFOK extends an open invitation to anyone who will speak to the DPFOK on the topic of, "Why I support the War on Drugs" The DPFOK will provide a Press Release and a Review of the presentation for distribution to the media.

MORE DPFOK COMMENTARY:

It is a matter of good business to spend money on treatment and honest drug education rather than incarceration, that it is good business to see addiction as a medical condition, rather than a crime or character flaw.

Not all drug court and community sentencing programs are equal. These are not points the writer/researcher of “A Chance to Change” emphasized. Nevertheless, it is a remarkable documentary showing that Oklahomans are on their way to seeing addiction as a public health rather than a criminal justice issue. Legislators and law enforcement please take note!

What is the War On Drugs Winning Us?

After reading some recent articles I had to ask myself, WHAT ARE WE WINNING IN THIS WAR ON DRUGS?

The articles I refer to are, People entering prison reaches a record level by: ANGEL RIGGS World Capitol Bureau 10/26/2007, Sentencing Commission chairman seeks “better” way to deal with drug, alcohol offenders By TIM TALLEY Associated Press Writer and DOC director warns of prison crisis By RON JENKINS Associated Press 8/13/2007

So let’s explore what these articles are telling us.

In the article People entering prison reaches a record level it states, “The number of people entering prison in Oklahoma reached an all-time high in fiscal year 2007, according to the Oklahoma Criminal Justice Resource Center.

“The new prisoners totaled 8,919 during the last fiscal year, which ended in June. That's four times the number in 1980, though the state's population has only grown by 18.3 percent, according to the Criminal Justice Resource Center, which tracks prison data.”

Then it asks the question “Why do we have such a dramatic rise in our prison population in Oklahoma?”

The answer is obvious, we have large number of (criminals) citizens who use the drugs we deem illicit to hunt down and lock up.

In the article Sentencing Commission chairman seeks “better” way to deal with drug, alcohol offenders it states, “The chairman of the Oklahoma Sentencing Commission said Thursday the state needs a better way to manage the growing number of drug offenders who are being sent to state prisons -- offenders who are helping push the prison population to record heights.”

Also, “House Speaker Pro Tem Gus Blackwell, R-Goodwell, said statistics presented to the commission indicate state prisons received hundreds more drug offenders last year than violent offenders in spite of the investment of almost $20 million in tax dollars to create drug courts that were designed to divert drug offenders away from prison.

"The data shows we've got to do something better or different to address this problem," Blackwell said.

Well I agree with Rep. Blackwell, we do have to do something better or different to address how our society deals with its (illicit) drug users.

Let’s try Harm Reduction instead of incarceration.

Let’s build Treatment Centers instead of building more prisons.

Let’s use Drug Courts to divert non-violent petty thieves with a drug problem away from prison.

It goes on to say, “Statistics compiled by the Oklahoma Criminal Justice Resource Center indicate that state prisons received 3,199 drug offenders during the fiscal year that ended June 30, 1,366 more than the number of violent offenders sent to prison during the same period.”

“The number of drug offenders sent to state prisons has exploded over the past 20 years and is 13.4 times higher than the number of drug offenders received by prisons in 1979, according to the statistics.”

"We're doing a pretty good job dealing with violent offenders," Blackwell said. But drug, alcohol and other nonviolent offenders are driving the growth in Oklahoma's prison population, according to statistics.

So let’s understand this:

In the last fiscal year Oklahoma prisons received 8,919 new prisoners, of those 3,199 were sent to prison for non-violent drug offenses, and according to the OCJRC we sent 1,833 violent offenders to prison during that same period. The last time I checked the OCJRC Oklahoma tax payers spend $16,286.30 per year to keep someone behind prison walls. That means we just added approx. $52.1 Million per year to the DOC budget just to house the new Drug Law violators we’ve put in prison in the last fiscal year.

In fact, according to a recent Tulsa World Article DOC director warns of prison crisis By RON JENKINS Associated Press 8/13/2007, the Oklahoma Prison system is close to putting out the “NO VACANCY” sign.

WHAT ARE WE WINNING?

According to the OSC arrests for drugs in Oklahoma has increased 87% 0ver the last 10 years.

We’re hunting down and locking up people who possess or use an illicit substance at record rates. And yet, according to a 2005 report UN office of drugs and crime report, our best efforts world wide remove 10%-15% of the heroine, 30% of the cocaine and according to the 2007 marijuana crop report The U.S. interdiction efforts removes 8% of the outdoor cultivated marijuana and 2% of the indoor cultivated marijuana from the streets.

Also, despite our best efforts, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, "The value of the global illicit drug market for the year 2003 was estimated at US$13 Billion at the production level, at $94 Billion at the wholesale level (taking seizures into account), and at US$322 Billion based on retail prices and taking seizures and other losses into account. This indicates that despite seizures and losses, the value of the drugs increase substantially as they move from producer to consumer."

WHAT ARE WE WINNING?

It’s estimated that the U.S. is currently spending $69 Billion per year to wage the Drug War. We are filling up our prisons with non-violent illicit drug users at a record rate. There are more and more illicit drugs finding their way on to our streets. Drug use in the U.S. remains consistent. And, thanks to Drug War, the BLACK MARKET purveyors of these substances we deem illicit are making tons of money.

WHAT ARE WE WINNING?

Well, we are “NUMBER 1” in the per capita prison population. If you believe that our current hunt ‘em down and lock ‘em up Drugs–Out-Of-Control Policy isn’t working join the DPFOK and help us end this Drug War.

Contact your State and Federal Law Makers and tell them “THE DRUG WAR HAS FAILED”, IT’S TIME TO TRY SOMETHING DIFFERENT.