The budgetary demands of swollen prison populations are forcing states to reconsider their sentencing policies and examine the cost-effectiveness, fairness, and wisdom of adopting shorter sentences, eliminating mandatory minimums and increasing the use of alternatives to incarceration (Incarceration pp). According to a March 2004 article in the Journal of the American Medical Association titled "Actual Causes of Death in the United States," tobacco is number one with 435, 000 deaths per years, followed by poor diet and physical inactivity at 365,000, then alcohol at 85,000 deaths (Annual pp). Adverse reactions to prescription drugs accounts for 32,000 deaths, while motor vehicle crashes cause 26,347 deaths (Annual pp). All illicit drug use, direct and indirect is responsible for 17,000 deaths, however, marijuana is responsible for zero deaths (Annual pp).

In March 2005, people from various backgrounds, from attorneys to outreach workers to recovering drug users, gathered at Seattle City Hall to discuss the war on drugs and concluded that, "as waged today, it is at best ineffective and at worst expensive and unfair" (Castro pp). Roger Goodman, an attorney with the King County Bar Association, said, "We really must stop these wasteful practices," (Castro pp). Councilman Nick Licata said the goal is for the city to begin working on drug treatment as a way of reducing street-level drug dealing, rather than relying on law enforcement to arrest street dealers (Castro pp). The week before the meeting, the King County Bar Association released a report "arguing that drug abuse should be dealt with as a medical problem, not a crime' (Castro pp). Moreover, the state should regulate the manufacture and distribution of now-illegal drugs and that, the association contends, would reduce drug-related crime, gang violence and drug use among children (Castro pp). Former Seattle police...

In his book, "Breaking Rank," Stamper writes that the current laws waste taxpayer money, unfairly target minorities, and "have resulted in police across the country making more arrests for drug offenses than they do for murder, manslaughter, rape and aggravated assaults combined" (Castro pp).
Recently, in Syracuse, New York, a call for an honest report of the city's drug war budget led to hearings before the city council on alternatives (Communities pp). Syndicated columnist Neal Peirce observed in his January 3, 2005 column, "Can One City Reduce U.S. Drug Law Madness,"

Can a single city do anything to change drug policies that are delivering terror to our inner city streets, diverting police, clogging our courts, breaking up families and making once-proud America quite literally the incarceration capital of the world" (Communities pp)?

Peirce says that it is difficult because federal and state drug laws are highly intrusive, however, Syracuse City Auditor, Minchin Lewis' detailed analysis of drug law impact, is leading the city council to ask tough questions and actively search for alternatives (Communities pp). According to Lewis' audit, 22% of the 28,800 arrests in a single year were for drug-related incidents, more than arrests for assaults, disturbances and larcenies combined (Communities pp).

Jeffrey Miron, a Boston University economist and drug trade expert, to the council that like alcohol trade in the Roaring Twenties, narcotics rendered illegal by federal decree soar in price and have created an opportunity for traffickers and dealers to share of the $65 billion-a-year nationwide market (Communities pp).

Works Cited

Communities Organizing Against the Drug War: Local Governments, Community

Groups Work to Oppose U.S. Drug War, Promote Alternative Policies. Accessed from Common Sense on May 05, 2005. http://www.csdp.org/news/news/communities.htm

Castro, Hector. Drug War Strategy Assailed at Forum. Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

March 10, 2005. Accessed from Seattle-pi.com web site on May 05, 2005. http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/215290_drugs10.html?searchpagefrom=1&searchdiff=58

Annual Causes of Death in the United States. Accessed from the Drug War Facts web site on May 05, 2005. http://www.drugwarfacts.org/causes.htm

Incarcerated America. April 2003. Accessed from the Human Rights Watch web site on May 04, 2005. http://www.hrw.org/backgrounder/usa/incarceration/

Economics. Accessed from…