To: The United States House of Representatives and The United States Senate
End the Failed'War on Drugs
In this, the 40th year of the so-called 'War on Drugs' we declare the policy a total failure. We call on the Congress to end it now!
It has failed to stop drug use. It has failed to stop the importation of drugs. It has destabilized many governments around the world.
It has cost the taxpayers $77billion a year, That is more than 3/4 of a trillion dollars over 10 years, More than half of the cost cuts the 'supercommittee' was supposed to make.
According to Harvard economist Jeffrey Miron, the 'War on Drugs' cost the United States Taxpayer $77 billion a year. That is $77,000,000,000 a year our government spends on a filed policy. If we eliminate that expenditure from the budget over 10 years that will be ¾ of a trillion dollars reduction in our budget deficit. That is more than half of the deficit reduction that the administration and the so-called 'Congressional Supercomittee' is currently trying to achieve.
It would free up close to half the nation’s prison cells. That would reserve them for violent offenders and the white collar criminals that have created the current economic chaos with their criminal behavior.
We would be able to invest substantially more time, money, and imagination in prevention, education, and drug treatment. And, we would make our communities much safer and healthier.
The NAACP has recently passed a historic resolution demanding an end to the 'War on Drugs.' The resolution comes as young Black male unemployment hovers near 50 percent and the wealth gap's become a veritable gulf. The war on drugs is the engine of 21st century discrimination - an engine that has brought Jim Crow into the age of Barack Obama.
It has failed to stop drug use. It has failed to stop the importation of drugs. It has destabilized many governments around the world.
It has cost the taxpayers $77billion a year, That is more than 3/4 of a trillion dollars over 10 years, More than half of the cost cuts the 'supercommittee' was supposed to make.
According to Harvard economist Jeffrey Miron, the 'War on Drugs' cost the United States Taxpayer $77 billion a year. That is $77,000,000,000 a year our government spends on a filed policy. If we eliminate that expenditure from the budget over 10 years that will be ¾ of a trillion dollars reduction in our budget deficit. That is more than half of the deficit reduction that the administration and the so-called 'Congressional Supercomittee' is currently trying to achieve.
It would free up close to half the nation’s prison cells. That would reserve them for violent offenders and the white collar criminals that have created the current economic chaos with their criminal behavior.
We would be able to invest substantially more time, money, and imagination in prevention, education, and drug treatment. And, we would make our communities much safer and healthier.
The NAACP has recently passed a historic resolution demanding an end to the 'War on Drugs.' The resolution comes as young Black male unemployment hovers near 50 percent and the wealth gap's become a veritable gulf. The war on drugs is the engine of 21st century discrimination - an engine that has brought Jim Crow into the age of Barack Obama.
Why is this important?
Ending the so-called 'War on Drugs.