Drug War Mythology
Paul Armentano
It's been said that the first casualty of war is truth; the aptly
titled US "War on Drugs" is no different. America's Drug War is
a $50 billion-per-year[1] boondoggle which thrives on federal
lies and distortions, media complicity, and an ill-informed public.
Over the course of this battle, bureaucrats and prohibitionists-including
the country's top-ranking anti-drug official, Drug Czar Barry
McCaffrey-have popularized countless myths to justify and support
their endeavor. More often than not these lies go unchallenged
and become accepted by the public as truth. Those that are exposed
are quickly replaced by even grander sophistry. Let's explore
some of the more pervasive myths of America's longest war.
Myth: Law enforcement rarely arrest or jail drug offenders.
"Very few drug-use offenders ever see the inside of a prison
cell. It's simply a myth that our prison cells are filled with
people who don't belong there." -Rep. John Mica (R-FL), speaking
before Congress, July 1999
Fact: Approximately 25 percent of American inmates are imprisoned
on drug charges. -US Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice
Statistics
Drug offenders, often low level users, comprise the fastest-rising
percentage of today's inmates. According to statistics compiled
by the Washington DC Justice Policy Institute, 76 percent of the
increase in admissions to US prisons from 1978 to 1996 was attributable
to nonviolent offenders.[2] The majority of these were drug violators.
Since 1989, the number of drug offenders sent to prison has exceeded
the number of violent commitments every year.[3]
Over the past 20 years, the total number of inmates incarcerated
on drug charges in federal and state prisons and local jails has
grown over 1000 percent. There are now more than 450,000 drug
offenders behind bars, a total nearly equal to the entire US prison
population of 1980.[4] Put another way, there are presently 100,000
more Americans imprisoned for drug offenses than total prisoners
in the European Union, even though the EU has 100 million more
citizens than the US. As a result, nearly one out of every four
Americans behind bars is incarcerated for drugs.[5]
The ratio for federal prisoners is even more apalling; drug
offenders comprise approximately two out of every three federal
inmates.[6] Punishment for first-time federal drug offenders averages
82.4 months, a sentence longer than those for manslaughter, assault,
and sexual abuse.[7]
State prosecutors are sending drug offenders to jail in greater
and greater numbers. One recent study found that approximately
half of all California prisoners are there on drug charges.[8]
A review of 1999 New York State sentencing data revealed that
91 percent of all drug offenders sentenced to prison that year
were incarcerated for either drug possession or violating one
of the state's three lowest level drug offenses.[9]
The federal drug control budget has escalated at a similarly
alarming rate. Today, the federal government spends over $13 billion
annually on domestic anti-drug law enforcement alone, a figure
that is 800 times larger than the entire federal drug control
budget of 1981.[10] Predictably, this increase has led to an unprecedented
explosion of drug arrests. Police today annually arrest three
times as many individuals on drug charges than they did in 1980.
According to FBI crime report figures, approximately 1.6 million
Americans were arrested on drug charges in 1998, one of the highest
totals ever recorded.[11]
Contrary to prohibitionist rhetoric, the majority of those arrested
are low-level offenders charged with drug possession, not sale.
Seventy-nine percent of all drug arrests in 1998 were for possession
only.[12] Overwhelmingly, those arrested are marijuana smokers.
In 1998, police arrested 682,885 Americans for marijuana offenses,
more than the total number of arrestees for all violent crimes
combined, including murder, rape, robbery, and aggravated assault.[13]
Eighty-eight percent of these arrests were for marijuana possession
only. This translates into one out of every 25 criminal arrests
in the United States.[14] Believe it or not, one in seven drug
prisoners is now behind bars for pot![15]
Endnotes
1. Congress is requesting $19.2 billion to fight drugs for fiscal
year 2001. State and local governments annually spend $33 billion
to fund anti-drug activities. McCaffrey, B. "Fight drugs as you
would a disease." Chicago Tribune, March 31, 1996.
2. Irwin, J, V Schiraldi, & J Ziedenberg (1999). America's one
million nonviolent prisoners. Washington, DC: Justice Policy Institute.
3. annual data compiled by the US Department of Justice, Bureau
of Justice Statistics. Washington, DC.
4. Schiraldi, V & J Ziedenberg. (2000). Poor prescription: The
cost of imprisoning drug offenders in the United States. Washington,
DC: Justice Policy Institute.
5. DOJ, Bureau of Justice Statistics. Profile of jail inmates,
1996. Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office.
6. US Federal Bureau of Prisons. (1998). United States federal
prisoners profile, 1998. Washington, DC: US Government Printing
Office.
7. US Federal Bureau of Prisons. (1996). Quick facts. Washington,
DC: US Government Printing Office.
8. Op cit., Schiraldi & Ziedenberg.
9. Ibid.
10. based on proposed FY 2001 drug control budget data. Congress
appropriated $1.5 billion for drug control in 1981.
11. Federal Bureau of Investigation. (1999). Table 29: Total estimated
arrests United States, 1998.
12. Ibid.
13. Ibid.
14. Ibid.
15. DOJ, Bureau of Justice Statistics. (1999). Substance abuse
and treatment, state and federal prisoners. Washington DC: US
Government Printing Office.
this article copyright 2001 Paul Armentano
You Are Being Lied To copyright 2001
The Disinformation Company, Ltd.
