Netherlands to Close Prisons Due to Lack of Crime

A headline I hope to one day read here in the states. Just imagine it. Treating drug use/abuse as a public health issue with experts in mental health creating the policies rather than law enforcement officials and politicians that think being "tough on crime" means overcrowding our prisons with non-violent offenders, spending valuable police resources on marijuana, and spending tax payer money without significantly reducing crime.

You can often hear opponents of marijuana legalization go on and on about how the Netherlands, and Amsterdam in particular, are filled with crime and the reason for this is their toleration for the retail sale of marijuana in coffee shops.

In a country where new prisons and jails are being built every year - it's hard to imagine the U.S. actually having to close prisons, not because of budget crises, but because crime is down. But it looks like those wacky folks from the Netherlands, in all their supposed pot smoking glory, have done just that. In fact, they'll be closing 8 prisons due to lack of crime. Let me say that again. Lack of crime. It just sounds so nice to say.

I think it's just common sense. In Portugal where drugs have been decriminalized, we've seen reductions in not just crime but drug use! And it's important to mention that Portugal saw an increase in those seeking help for drug addiction. When you aren't stigmatized for having a problem - you're more likely to seek help for it.

Look at this recent comparison of crime and incarceration rates in New York and in California. While I don't want to make light of New York's drug laws (the Rockefeller Drug Laws have resulted in disproportionate numbers of African Americans making being incarcerated for drug offenses), the study done by Northwestern University School of Law provides even more proof that we can't just jail our way out of the drug problem.

New York's prison population declined by 9% between 1995 and 2007, while it's violent and property crime rates fell by 47% and 51%, respectively, during the same period, according to data in the report. California's prison population rose by 31% during that period, while the two types of crime declined by 46% and 38%, respectively, the report said. Northwestern adjunct professor Malcolm C. Young, the author of the report, attributes the dichotomy to the differences in the states' mandatory minimum sentences, incarceration policies and rehabilitation efforts.

"The data show that you can increase prisons and have less effect on crime than can be achieved in a state that chooses not to increase its incarceration," Malcolm said in an interview. "Treatment and rehabilitation are important, but what New York learned is that a lot of these people just don't need to be in the criminal justice system."

Lets get back to the core message of SSDP here: Education NOT Incarceration. College students that are convicted of drug possession, even first time possession of a joint, are denied federal financial aid for school.

Lets get smart about drugs. Its like Revenge of the Nerds. Sure, in the beginning the big strong jocks had muscles, cool cars and all the girls. But they were idiots and by the end it all fell apart for them and they had to make room for those that wanted change and weren't afraid to let people know about it. Policies like the HEA Aid Elimination Penalty and Marijuana Prohibition are like those jocks and SSDPers are like those awesome nerds jamming with Roland synthesizers, electric violins, and 80's hairdoos (except we wear suites and ties and engage in political process).

Kerlikowske vs. Walters

While the newest director of the ONDCP, Gil Kerlikowske, isn't likely to be advocating for legalization anytime soon - I think he may be taking us in the right direction - toward actually caring about substance abuse.

"Regardless of how you try to explain to people it's a 'war on drugs' or a 'war on a product,' people see a war as a war on them," he said. "We're not at war with people in this country."

For the past 8 years the focus of the ONDCP has been honed on marijuana. And we've most certainly been at war with people that use drugs. Marijuana, then drug czar John Walters would say, is as dangerous as crack. He opposed state medical marijuana laws (again comparing it to "medical crack") and has spoken out against states making marijuana the lowest law enforcement priority. But Kerlikowske is different. In this interview with the Wall Street Journal, Kerlikowske was asked:

What's the number one drug problem?

Well [illegal] prescription drug use is rising and one problem I want to shout about. At the federal level it's easy to look at things nationally but drug issues are different depending on the geography. In some places meth may be far more serious, even though on a national scale it doesn't appear that way. In Appalachia Oxycotin may be far more serious. I want to look at things regionally and in a narrower focus than in a national focus.

Without a doubt, Walters would have answered marijuana to that question. He may have thrown meth in their too but not without claiming that marijuana leads to meth. Kerlikowske doesn't even mention marijuana. He states the truth - prescription drugs and their diversion are a serious problem. He's also smart to look at this regionally rather than create a blanket campaign against a single drug.

Check out this 2003 article from the Seattle Times concerning Seattle's lowest law enforcement priority ballot question. You'll see that Kerlikowske opposed the initiative for an almost sensible reason: Arresting people for possessing marijuana for personal use, says Police Chief Gil Kerlikowske, is not a priority now. Officers aren't now bringing in everyone they see smoking a joint, he said.

Kerlikowske at least promises to take his job more seriously than Walters. He doesn't have to support legalization for me to get behind policies that make sense. Furthermore, I don't think full out legalization is necessary for us to make improvements with treating drug addiction (though it sure would help a lot) because as LEAP's Peter Christ says "Legalizing drugs is not the answer to our drug problem. Legalizing drugs is the answer to our crime problem." The drug problem, unfortunately, isn't going anywhere - its here to stay - legalized drugs or not. But we can stop throwing gas on the fire now.

If Kerlikowske is ready to put our money where his mouth is - we'll see a campaign from the ONDCP that shows needle exchange programs work to reduce disease transmissions and provide places where addicts can go to get help and eventually - off drugs. We'll see funding for law enforcement decrease and treatment funding increase (you'll see here that Obama's budget, while increasing treatment funding, also decreases prevention funding and unfortunately calls for more $$ for law enforcement). Talking dogs and flying aliens warning our kids about pot will be replaced with realistic drug education that focuses on America's real drug problems - not support for a witch-hunt of marijuana users.

Deprioritization is key at this point. We can't focus on marijuana anymore and I think our new drug czar knows this. At least that much leaves me optimistic.