War on drugs proven to be ineffective – Allentown Morning Call

In the race to the top, there is one area where America shines above all others incarceration. In October 2013, the incarceration rate of the United States was by far the highest in the world, at 716 per 100,000 of the national population. While the United States represents about 4.4 percent of the world's population, it houses around 22 percent of the world's prisoners.

In the last 40 years, the U.S. incarceration rate has increased upward of 500 percent despite crime rates decreasing nationally. Much of that growth was driven by the war on drugs, combined with mandatory minimum and other draconian sentencing laws. Almost 50 percent of state prisoners (in 2006) and over 90 percent of federal prisoners (in 2008) were incarcerated for non-violent offenses.

There is scant evidence the war on drugs was effective. All this incarceration comes at enormous expense to the taxpayer, while we've allowed for-profit prison systems, which have a vested self-interest in jailing folks, to blossom. Meanwhile, prisons have become inhumane warehouses for the mentally ill. It's a national disgrace.

Despite opposition from such conservative voices as Sen. Rand Paul and the Koch brothers, who favor incarceration policy reform, Attorney General Jeff Sessions wants to return to the war on drugs. He is not thinking straight.

Fritz Walker

South Whitehall Township

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War on drugs proven to be ineffective - Allentown Morning Call