Black
State
Legislators
Condemn
Drug
War,
Seek
Alternatives
1/7/05
The nation's largest organization representing African-American state legislators has condemned the war on drugs and is demanding alternative policies less harmful to black communities. The move marks the second time in recent months that black leadership organizations have belatedly recognized the disproportionate impact of drug prohibition on their communities and called for a new direction. In October, an amalgamation of black professional associations, the National African-American Drug Policy Coalition, came together to seek similar changes in state and federal drug policy (https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle-old/359/naadpc.shtml). At its annual meeting in Philadelphia in December, the National Black Caucus of State Legislators (http://www.nbcsl.com) passed a resolution condemning the drug war and committing its members to repeal mandatory minimum sentences and support diverting nonviolent drug offenders into treatment. Introduced by delegate Salima Marriott of Maryland, the resolution puts the NBCSL on record as calling the drug war a failure. "The war on drugs has failed, and while states have continually increased their expenditures to wage the war on drugs, policies which rely heavily on arrest and incarceration have proven costly and ineffective at addressing these issues," the resolution read in part. "The war on drugs is failing everybody, but no one is being devastated by it like African Americans,"said Michael Blain, director of public policy at the Drug Policy Alliance (http://www.drugpolicy.org). "That is why it is so historic that the people who represent the communities who have the most to gain from reform are taking the lead in addressing this problem and finding solutions." That African Americans suffer disproportionately from drug prohibition is beyond doubt. Not only do blacks go to jail for drug offenses at a rate 13 times that of whites despite having similar drug use rates, as Human Rights Watch, among others, has pointed out, and not only do blacks make up 59% of those convicted of drug crimes in the US despite being only 12.2% of the population, but black urban communities suffer the brunt of both drug law enforcement and the community disruption caused by prohibition. DPA worked NBCSL members to get the resolution passed, and if members abide by the resolution, DPA will continue to be involved. As the text of the measure notes, members are committed to "work with the Drug Policy Alliance to create NBCSL seminars that provide a thorough overview on harm reduction principles and legislative reform initiatives." In a series of preliminary "whereases," the NBCSL cited the drug war as "a major force" driving mass incarceration in the US, a cause of "the general criminalization of communities of color in the US," a waste of tax dollars desperately needed elsewhere, and an impediment to harm reduction strategies (broadly defined to include access to affordable community-based drug treatment, as well as education and prevention). Continuing that its common goal is "to advocate those policies which increase the health and welfare of our communities, and to reduce the unacceptable racial disparities both in criminal justice and in access to drug treatment and other services" and that it seeks to reduce the imprisonment of non-violent drug offenders, the NBCSL then took a giant step forward by formally stating that drug users are not demons but members of the larger community. "We believe that nonviolent substance abusers are not menaces to our communities but rather a troubled yet integral part of our community who need to be reclaimed," the NBCSL said. After the preamble came the meat of the resolution. According to the document, the NBCSL will:
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