About 60 alleged criminals in the Springfield illicit drug trade face charges after a multi-agency sweep of arrests on June 21 and 22, marking the 40th anniversary of the U.S. War on Drugs. But some reformers call that war a failure.
“We all know that the War on Drugs has failed to end drug use,” said Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle at a public rally June 17 in Chicago. “Instead, it’s resulted in the incarceration of millions of people around the country…. Drugs and the failed War on Drugs have devastated lives, families and communities.”
Preckwinkle spoke on the 40th anniversary of former President Richard Nixon’s June 17, 1971, declaration that drug abuse is “public enemy number one in the United States.” In early June, the United Nations Global Commission on Drug Policy declared, “The global war on drugs has failed, with devastating consequences for individuals and societies around the world.”
But the War on Drugs continues in Springfield and nationwide. On June 22, Springfield Police Chief Robert Williams held a joint press conference with representatives from the federal Drug Enforcement Agency, U.S. Marshalls and Central Illinois Enforcement Group to announce a “Summer Sweep” of 60-plus alleged criminals in the Springfield illicit drug trade. The sweep was part of a special joint effort between local, state and federal law enforcement to curb violence after the rash of Springfield shootings in early April. Officials noted that the individuals believed to be responsible were arrested within days of the shootings, and the Summer Sweep was meant to curb future violence.
Drug charges resulting from the sweep range from possession of cannabis to manufacturing and delivery of a controlled substance, along with other charges like residential burglary, failure to register as a sex offender and reckless driving.
Williams said the sweep would serve as an example to other alleged criminals in Springfield.
“Certainly, arrests are not the only solution to reducing crime, but they are a significant component,” Williams said. “The goal of arresting individuals as we did in our Operation Summer Sweep is to send a clear message to the violators that their actions will not be tolerated. Also, it allows the various members of the criminal justice system to work together in concert to impose swift and certain consequences that modify or suppress criminal behavior.”
Though Sangamon County State’s Attorney John Milhiser declined to comment to reporters on the effectiveness of the War on Drugs, he did point to the recently started Sangamon County Drug Court, which offers substance abuse treatment and other opportunities for first-time drug offenders.
Kathleen Kane-Willis, director of the Illinois Consortium on Drug Policy and interim director of the Institute for Metropolitan Affairs at Roosevelt University in Chicago, told Illinois Times that simply sending drug offenders to prison is not effective for stopping drug abuse and controlling the cost of incarceration.
“There’s been a lot of focus on criminalizing what is really a health problem – putting people in prison for substance abuse disorders,” Kane-Willis says. She notes that the War on Drugs is marked by disproportionate incarceration of minorities and the poor, especially in Illinois, which ranked first among all states for disproportionate incarceration by race in 2009. She says there are five African American inmates for every white inmate in Illinois prisons for drug possession.
Instead of incarcerating drug users and drug dealers, Kane-Willis says a different approach emphasizing community involvement has shown better results. Under the “Drug Market Intervention” model (DMI), people arrested for drug possession receive substance abuse treatment instead of prison time, while drug dealers are forced to confront their community and acknowledge the damage caused by the drug trade. Offenders are then offered help finding jobs and social services.
“It’s using the police and the community to say ‘no more’ – that we won’t tolerate this any more,” Kane-Willis says. “It’s holding the community responsible for what happens in the community and holding the police responsible for having positive interactions with the community and working together.” To see the Summer Sweep press release and a list of those arrested, visit http://bit.ly/lYl8Wo.
Contact Patrick Yeagle at pyeagle@illinoistimes.com.
“We all know that the War on Drugs has failed to end drug use,” said Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle at a public rally June 17 in Chicago. “Instead, it’s resulted in the incarceration of millions of people around the country…. Drugs and the failed War on Drugs have devastated lives, families and communities.”
Preckwinkle spoke on the 40th anniversary of former President Richard Nixon’s June 17, 1971, declaration that drug abuse is “public enemy number one in the United States.” In early June, the United Nations Global Commission on Drug Policy declared, “The global war on drugs has failed, with devastating consequences for individuals and societies around the world.”
But the War on Drugs continues in Springfield and nationwide. On June 22, Springfield Police Chief Robert Williams held a joint press conference with representatives from the federal Drug Enforcement Agency, U.S. Marshalls and Central Illinois Enforcement Group to announce a “Summer Sweep” of 60-plus alleged criminals in the Springfield illicit drug trade. The sweep was part of a special joint effort between local, state and federal law enforcement to curb violence after the rash of Springfield shootings in early April. Officials noted that the individuals believed to be responsible were arrested within days of the shootings, and the Summer Sweep was meant to curb future violence.
Drug charges resulting from the sweep range from possession of cannabis to manufacturing and delivery of a controlled substance, along with other charges like residential burglary, failure to register as a sex offender and reckless driving.
Williams said the sweep would serve as an example to other alleged criminals in Springfield.
“Certainly, arrests are not the only solution to reducing crime, but they are a significant component,” Williams said. “The goal of arresting individuals as we did in our Operation Summer Sweep is to send a clear message to the violators that their actions will not be tolerated. Also, it allows the various members of the criminal justice system to work together in concert to impose swift and certain consequences that modify or suppress criminal behavior.”
Though Sangamon County State’s Attorney John Milhiser declined to comment to reporters on the effectiveness of the War on Drugs, he did point to the recently started Sangamon County Drug Court, which offers substance abuse treatment and other opportunities for first-time drug offenders.
Kathleen Kane-Willis, director of the Illinois Consortium on Drug Policy and interim director of the Institute for Metropolitan Affairs at Roosevelt University in Chicago, told Illinois Times that simply sending drug offenders to prison is not effective for stopping drug abuse and controlling the cost of incarceration.
“There’s been a lot of focus on criminalizing what is really a health problem – putting people in prison for substance abuse disorders,” Kane-Willis says. She notes that the War on Drugs is marked by disproportionate incarceration of minorities and the poor, especially in Illinois, which ranked first among all states for disproportionate incarceration by race in 2009. She says there are five African American inmates for every white inmate in Illinois prisons for drug possession.
Instead of incarcerating drug users and drug dealers, Kane-Willis says a different approach emphasizing community involvement has shown better results. Under the “Drug Market Intervention” model (DMI), people arrested for drug possession receive substance abuse treatment instead of prison time, while drug dealers are forced to confront their community and acknowledge the damage caused by the drug trade. Offenders are then offered help finding jobs and social services.
“It’s using the police and the community to say ‘no more’ – that we won’t tolerate this any more,” Kane-Willis says. “It’s holding the community responsible for what happens in the community and holding the police responsible for having positive interactions with the community and working together.” To see the Summer Sweep press release and a list of those arrested, visit http://bit.ly/lYl8Wo.
Contact Patrick Yeagle at pyeagle@illinoistimes.com.
* A rather large majority of people will always feel the need to use drugs, such as heroin, opium, nicotine, amphetamines, alcohol, sugar, or caffeine.
* Due to Prohibition, the availability of mind-altering drugs has become so universal and unfettered, that in any city of the civilized world, any one of us would be able to procure practically any drug we wish within an hour.
* The massive majority of people who use drugs do so recreationally - getting high at the weekend then up for work on a Monday morning.
* A small minority of people will always experience drug use as problematic.
* Throughout history, the prohibition of any mind-altering substance has always exploded usage rates, overcrowded jails, fueled organized crime, created rampant corruption of law-enforcement, even whole governments, and induced an incalculable amount of suffering and death.
* It's not even possible to keep drugs out of prisons, but prohibitionists wish to waste hundreds of billions of our money in an utterly futile attempt to keep them off our streets.
* Prohibition kills more people and ruins more lives than the prohibited drugs have ever done.
* The United States jails a larger percentage of it's own citizens than any other country in the world, including those run by the worst totalitarian regimes.
* The urge to save humanity is almost always a false-face for the urge to rule it.
- H. L. Mencken (1880-1956) American editor, essayist and philologist.
* In 'the land formally known as free', all citizens have been stripped of their 4th amendment rights and are now totally subordinate to a corporatized, despotic government with a heavily armed and corrupt, militarized police force whose often deadly intrusions into their homes and lives are condoned by an equally corrupt and spineless judiciary.
* As with torture, prohibition is a grievous crime against humanity. If you support it, or even simply tolerate it by looking the other way while others commit it, you are an accessory to a very serious moral transgression against humanity.
* America re-legalized certain drug use in 1933. The drug was alcohol, and the 21st amendment re-legalized its production, distribution and sale. Both alcohol consumption and violent crime dropped immediately as a result, and, very soon after, the American economy climbed out of that same prohibition engendered abyss into which it had previously been pushed.
I have been this woman's tutor for three years. She works hard, and she struggles with the responsibilites of work, school, and family, and then to have this stress heaped on her-- imagine trying to focus on reading a chapter and taking a test with this hanging over your head-- the unfairness of it infuriates me.
I have every confidence she is going to be exonerated--but now she has a felony arrest on her record. She is going to have to pay out of pocket for a lawyer to defend her against these bogus charges. After she gets her degree is going to have to explain this arrest at every agency where she interviews for a job.
This woman has never been in trouble before. Are the police at all ashamed for what they are putting this woman and her family through? Or do they see her life as collateral damage in the war on drugs?