Green Party: A RESOLUTION TO INVESTIGATE AND MITIGATE THE REAL COST OF THE WAR ON DRUGS
Proposal: A RESOLUTION TO INVESTIGATE AND MITIGATE THE REAL COST OF THE WAR ON DRUGS
WHEREAS, the "war on drugs" has failed: every community in the U.S. contends with the harmful effects of drug misuse and related problems, and while states have continually increased their expenditures to wage the war on drugs, policies which rely heavily on arrest and incarceration have proved costly and ineffective at addressing these issues; and
WHEREAS, the war on drugs is a major force driving the incarceration of over 2.3 million people in the United States, with African Americans and Latinos disproportionately represented in our country's overflowing jails and prisons; and
WHEREAS, the war on drugs perpetuates mandatory minimums, felony disfranchisement, disproportionate over-incarceration, poor access to healthcare, under funded public education, widespread unemployment, and the general criminalization of communities of color in the U.S.; and
WHEREAS, paying for the war on drugs means spending limited tax dollars on failed policies instead of proven solutions. Americans spend approximately $140 billion annually on prisons and jails including $24 billion spent on incarcerating over 1.2 million non-violent offenders. In many states, such as New York and California, spending on prisons far surpasses spending on education; and
WHEREAS, harm reduction strategies, including access to affordable community-based drug treatment, along with educational and economic opportunities, have shown to be successful at reducing the harms of drug misuse, yet more than half of those Americans in need of drug treatment do not have access to it; and
WHEREAS, African Americans and Latinos are less likely to sell or misuse illicit drugs than Caucasian Americans, yet African Americans experience highly disproportionate levels of death, disease, crime and suffering due both to drug misuse and to misguided drug policies. African Americans comprise only 12.2 percent of the population and 13 percent of drug users, yet they make up 38 percent of those arrested for drug offenses and 59 percent of those convicted of drug offenses; and
WHEREAS, our 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
WHEREAS, taking steps to reduce the incarceration of non-violent offenders and increasing the availability of treatment not only makes fiscal sense, but is sound public policy that is being implemented in states throughout the country, such as Maryland and California; and WHEREAS, 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;
WHEREAS, Cannabis and Hemp, should be regulated and controlled like cigarettes and alcohol. Heroin, Cocaine, Ecstasy, Methamphetamine, should be medicalized and come under the supervision of medical personnel. All the rest of the illegal drugs should be decriminalized for future debate and true and honest medicinal study.
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED THE Green Party of the United States of America calls for a complete and thorough investigation into the so called Drug War, and its connections to the prison industry, and seeks to mitigate its destructive effects through taxes derived from the sale of Cannabis and hemp which will go back into the communities as reparations to rebuild infra structure such as public education, health care and roads for those communities that have been ravaged by drug war maladies, as well as treatment programs made available for anyone addicted to drugs.
Resources: Efficacy, Drug Policy Alliance, Common Sense for Drug Policy, Criminal Justice Foundation