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Proposal Details

Proposal ID	367
Proposal	A RESOLUTION TO INVESTIGATE AND MITIGATE THE REAL COST OF THE WAR ON DRUGS
Presenter	Green Party of Conecticut, Progressive Party of Missouri, Green Party of Tennessee
Floor Manager	Holly Hart
Phase	Closed - Adopted
Discussion	09-10-2008 - 09-24-2008
Voting	09-25-2008 - 10-01-2008
Presens Quorum	Two Thirds of Active Accredited States/Caucuses
Consens Quorum	A Majority of Yes and No Votes

Background

NONE

Proposal

PROPOSAL for the Green National Committee to Adopt *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 thourough 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 ravished by drug war maladies, as well as treatment programs made available for anyone addicted to drugs.

Resources

None

References

CONTACT: Cliff Thornton efficacy at msn.com

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