Wasted In America

Whether from a nagging inferiority complex attributable to its youth and borrowed cultures, or simply the fruit of its puritanical roots the USA has a self-destructive streak that is fast becoming its undoing. No nation can long survive unless it can instill a healthy amount of pride and a sense of shared commitment in its people. What was so poignant about Barack Obama's election was the tearful joy on the faces of our African-American children who appeared to range in age from five to over a hundred. Finally, they thought, their parents, those already dead or very much alive, could believe they were equal American members, allowed to indulge in all the prerequisites and privileges of their powerful country. An inspiring notion, to which we grown-ups are yet to be impressed.

With all the talk centered on rescuing the economy and ending the Iraq fiasco the giant elephant in the room, the great all-devouring threat to the nation's survival stands quiet and unseen. I'm referring to the criminal number of black and brown and native-born Americans being locked in prison and being robbed of constructive futures simply for getting involved with unsanctioned drugs.

There is something ethically grotesque about the fact that our last three presidents--Clinton, Bush and Obama--had all at one time in their youthful lives experimented with illegal drugs. Yet, since the election of Ronald Reagan the United States has incarcerated more American citizens for abusing marijuana than the total number of prisoners we had locked behind bars in 1980. (Of the 450,000 arrests during the period 1990-2002, 82% of the increase was for marijuana, with 79% for marijuana possession-- Boyum and Reuter, 2005).

As a result of these Draconian drug laws the United States has well over two million of its people in prison, the majority for non-violent drug offenses. America has the highest incarceration rate in the world and yet retains one of the highest rankings in drug abuse. More troubling still is the rate at which we are imprisoning women, many with small children, virtually guaranteeing that the family will not escape its downward spiral, their lives given over to the hedge of self-medication against hopelessness and chronic depression.

"There is considerable evidence to show that the costs of such laws do not fall equally across all segments of US society. Between 1985 and 1995, for instance, there was an increase of 200 percent in the number of females incarcerated in state and federal institutions, most for non-violent offences. Many commentators agree that much of this was the result of stricter enforcement,increased penalties and mandatory prison sentences for drug offenders" (Reichel 2005, Bush-Baskette, 1999, Gray, 2001). Additionally, while punitive US drug policies can be seen to have significantly affected the imprisonment of women in general, the greatest increase in the percentage of inmates incarcerated for drug offences is seen in African American women.

An infuriating example of these destructive policies is the case of Yraida Guanipa. Ms. Guanipa has spent the last ten and a half years a Florida federal penitentiary, locked away from her friends, her extended family and her two young children.

Her offense: She agreed to pick up a package for a friend, which turned out to contain cocaine. Although Ms. Guanipa had never been arrested -- had never been a drug user--she received a thirteen-year "drug conspiracy" prison sentence. Her good standing in the community, her lack of criminal background and the fact that she had a 1-year-old and a 2-year old had no impact on her sentence.

But putting aside the moral obtuseness of such absurd enforcement policies-- including the inane "three-strikes you stay locked up, no ifs ands or buts," -- the absolute stupidity of the "War on Drugs" is its prohibitive cost in terms of basic dollars and cents.

At first the War on Drugs" seemed a political brain-stroke-- a real twofer for the Christian Right and their control of Washington's "new Republican majority". By building the extra prisons needed in rural and exurban counties the local Republicans could use their inmates to boost their Congressional numbers-- and since the war was centered in urban communities that consisted overwhelming of black and brown Democrats-- they were concurrently keeping potential voters away from the voting booth (and those pesky unions). The real travesty of the 1990's was the fact that a Democratic president went right along. Yet as far as reducing illegal drug use the impact was virtually nil:

A recent study comparing marijuana use in Amsterdam and San Francisco showed that relative risks of punishment make no difference on levels of use. Despite significantly different law enforcement regimes in these cities, the research found remarkable similarities in drug use patterns (Reinarman, Cohen & Kaal, 2004). Figures show that from 1990 to 2002, daily use of marijuana by high school seniors approached 6%--the exact same level as in 1975.

Not much to show for a program that is costing the Federal government upwards of $9 billion dollars each year. Put another way, the cost of keeping a non-violent drug offender in prison is greater than the cost of tuition, room and board at Yale or Harvard. So while mountains of words and barrels of ink are being spent on describing the need to stimulate the economy and "Reinvest in America" we ignore the ongoing war being waged against our own citizens. As with all wars, there is terrible collateral damage being done to our most vulnerable communities. Worse, by pretending that the problem can be solved simply by locking up the poor and probably many of our most innovative and entrepreneurial minds, we have doomed ourselves to failure. No nation has ever flourished once it becomes unable to care for its least.

Tragically, though we have a president who most certainly understands the consequence of this crippling waste and destruction, Obama fears, no doubt with a bitter dose of irony, that his instincts for change are most likely to be incarcerated by the shade of his skin.