DEA Statement
Some proponents of legalization claim that current strict drug control policies have a
disproportionately adverse effect on poor communities.
 The Facts
This much is obvious from even the most cursory examination of the statistics.
DEA Statement
The drug laws of the United States, and efforts to stop drug trafficking and abuse, are
designed to protect all people from the harm and denigration that illegal drugs cause. If
one economic group or another is disproportionately affected by the implementation of
current laws, that problem should be dealt with in its proper context--not by legalizing
drugs.
The Facts
As a matter of fact, the laws were based largely on racism and the fears of such things
as Chinese men luring white women to their ruin in opium dens, and the mythical
"Negro Cocaine Fiend." Harry Anslinger specifically stated that the primary
reason to outlaw marijuana (hemp) was "its effect on the degenerate races."
DEA Statement
The participants at the Forum, many of them city police chiefs, disagreed with the
notion that legalization would improve the lot of the poor.
Legalization proponents argue that fewer people would be arrested for drug trafficking
crime and the violence associated with turf protection would be reduced if drugs were
legalized. That argument assumes that drugrelated violence is limited to rival drug gangs
disputing turf, when in fact, most drug violence is committed by people under the
influence of drugs.
The incidence of dysfunctional families, unemployability, family violence, and ruined
lives would increase in lowincome communities, just as they would in every other
community. All communities would see increased aberrant behavior because of increased drug
use; increased occurrences of child neglect; increased family disintegration; increased
fetal damage caused by mothers' drug use; increased social welfare costs; loss of
workforce productivity; increased auto accidents because drivers are driving under the
influence of drugs; increased industrial accidents caused by impaired workers; increased
absenteeism; and increases in emergency room visits and overdose deaths. In short, all
Americans would see a moral decline of society.
Drug use in the inner city is a manifestation of other problems in the inner city;
these problems would not go away if more drugs were available. If proponents truly believe
that legalization would have a positive affect on communities, we challenge them to set up
a trial program in their own community.
The Facts
This is an empty challenge. If anyone tried it, the DEA would have them in jail before
the first results could be evaluated. This kind of trial program is the last thing the DEA
wants to see, as they have already stated by their opposition to an objective Federal
Commission to examine the evidence.
DEA Statement
Some facts which help to confirm the observations of the forum participants may be used
in debates:
· In his 1994 article in the New England Journal of Medicine, Dr. Herbert Kleber
addresses the drug situation: "Our current drug situation follows a pattern of
earlier drug epidemics. As the use of drugs drops from epidemic to endemic levels,
disadvantaged groups are more likely than others to continue using drugs because of their
greater availability and fewer alternative opportunities. That is why minority communities
want not only treatment facilities but also fair laws, justly applied to reduce the
horrendous toll of drug related crime in their neighborhoods. The illegal, open air drug
bazaars that flourish in southeastern Washington DC and the South Bronx would not be
tolerated in Georgetown or Scarsdale."
The Facts
Try as I might, I can't find anything in that statement which says that throwing
massive numbers of people in prison for drug offenses is a good idea.
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