On Faith
REV. MIKE YOUNG
Every voice raised against the "War on Drugs" is made to sound like a voice in favor of using drugs. And yet, many of the problems of drug use are the consequence of our misguided drug policies. Respectable people like judges, governors and people in law enforcement, as well as the voters in several states, are publicly coming to that conclusion. It’s time for new tactics
in failed ‘War on Drugs’Two years ago the Unitarian Universalist denomination launched a study of U.S. drug policies. What have decades of prohibition, heavy jail sentences, militarized enforcement, eradication programs in Third World countries and massive demonization programs produced? Drug use has continued. Drug entry points have multiplied. The huge amounts of money involved have distorted our own political process and social institutions as well as those of the source countries. We have the largest percentage of our population incarcerated of any country on the planet. We have spent billions of dollars on the so-called war on drugs. And drug use and abuse continues unabated.
In June, the Unitarian Universalist denomination issued its report in the form of a Statement of Conscience, passed overwhelmingly by its General Assembly meeting in Quebec City, Canada. The statement acknowledges the failure of current drug policy and calls for drastic change. The alternatives to the drug war called for are based on three principles:
1) Drug abuse is a community health problem. Treating it as a law enforcement problem has proven not to work. We recommend treatment on demand for otherwise non-criminal drug use.
2) Get the money out of the business. Pursue policies aimed at lowering, not raising, drug prices. This is the only way to seriously dent the drug trade. A number of methods are worth trying. It might ultimately cost less to simply buy up the product at the source and put the dealers out of business. Those determined to use could be supplied from government stores as many states now do with hard liquor. But this is the single most important target of serious drug policy -- the obscene profits. And they are entirely the result of prohibition.
3) Take the ideology out of drug policy. Try many things. Keep doing what works. Stop doing what doesn't work.
Opponents say that these alternative responses "send the wrong message to our children." Well, the numbers show that the message received has not been the message drug warriors think they are sending. It is time to end the farce of doing more and more of what clearly doesn't work. That is one message we REALLY don't want to send our children.
The Rev. Mike Young, pastor of First Unitarian Church of Honolulu, attended the June conference in Quebec.
RELIGION CALENDAR
