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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 5, 2012)
December S, 2012____________________________ ^ o rtla n h (©bseWer_________________________ Page 9 Indefensible and Foolish Neglect We pray and stand for children by M arian W right E delman Children did not ask to be bom, did not choose their par ents, state, zip code, race, or income level. I share the belief of all great faiths that every child is sacred. I believe in America’s promise, yet to be fulfilled, that every child and person has a right to a fair and level playing field on which to survive and thrive. That millions of our children lack the most basic protections of health care, nutrition, housing, safety, early childhood development supports, education which prepares them for college or career and productive work, and stable family sup port, threatens our national, economic and military security now and in the fu ture. While our nation is in a dither about an ■MM impending fiscal cliff created by political grandstanding and gridlock which threat ens economic recovery, it needs to turn with equal urgency to another threatening deficit our human capital deficit that is eroding the foundation of our nation’s house today and to morrow. The greatest threat to our national secu rity comes from no enemy without but from our indefensible and foolish neglect of our children today. Each day in America five children are killed by abuse or neglect; five children or teens commit suicide; 80 babies die before their first birthdays; 949 babies are bom at low birthweight; 1,204 babies are bom to teen mothers; 1,240 public school students are corporally pun ished; 2,058 children are confirmed as abused or neglected; 2,163 babies are bom without health insurance; 2,573 babies are bom into poverty; and 18,493 public school students are suspended. These facts of child neglect will be the seeds of our nation’s undoing if we do not act with urgency and exercise common, who have no one to pray them along life’s fiscal and moral sense in our budget and way. investment choices. If the foundation of We pray and stand for children poised your national house is crumbling, you by circumstance to soar and conquer don’t say you can’t afford to repair it. life’s challenges and for children bogged So as we give thanks for all the bless down by hunger and homelessness and ings we have, let’s also commit to pray violence and miseducation and trying so and stand for children who need our hard to survive. voice. We pray and stand for children who We pray and stand for children blessed love to read and for children who can’t by parents who care and for children read at all, for children who learn with without a parent or anyone who cares at excitement and for children told by adults all. they cannot achieve. We pray and stand We pray and stand for children filled for children who we expect and help to do with joy and hope and for children whose well and for children whom no one be days and nights are joyless. lieves in or helps succeed. We pray and stand for children with In this time of Thanksgiving, we pray hope and for children without hope whose as parents, grandparents, teachers, spirits have been dimmed and dashed. preachers, political and community lead We pray and stand for children high on ers that we will be a help and not a play and study and laughter and for chil hindrance to children we call our own and dren high on pot, glue, cocaine, and ec to all the children God created who are stasy. part of our family too. We pray and stand for our children for Marian Wright Edelman is president o f whom we pray every day and for children the Children's Defense Fund. K M o n c tn e m a n M a m a r ia N i Voters Opt for a Smarter Drug Policy Washington and Colorado’s new approach by A ustin R obles After four decades and billions of dollars in spending, the U.S.-led "W ar on Drugs" has failed. Initially, this war's architects aimed to curb drug use at home and stem production abroad. Their strategy has achieved few gains on either end. Today, an increasing num ber of states and foreign countries are dem anding a new approach to drug policy. Voters in Colorado and Washington, for example, both passed November bal lot initiatives that would regulate the sale of marijuana. Mexico recently decrimi nalized the personal possession of some drugs, and many other Latin American presidents are calling on the United Na tions and other international bodies to reexamine prohibitionist drug policy after decades of violence and little progress. Why this backlash against the current prohibition strategy? Because it failed to reduce the addiction or the violence asso ciated with the drug trade. Treating drug use as a criminal act rather than a health problem has harmed society. It has led to racist enforcement patterns and landed unprecedented num bers of nonviolent drug offenders in prison, costing taxpayers billions of dollars. In Latin America, it has led to dis placement, forced migration, increased criminal profit margins, and the loss of hundreds of thousands of lives. Prohibition isn't cost-effective either. A 1994 study found that domestic en forcement costs four times as much as treatment to reduce the amount of drug users, seven times as much as treat ment to reduce the amount of drugs consumed, and 15 times as much as * * Ilort lanb ©bstrtotr Established 1970 E d it o r - i n -C h ie f , P u b l is h e r : Charles H. Washington EDiTOR.Michael L eig h to n A ssistant to P ublisher , P u b u c R elations : M ark W ashington C reative D irector : P aul N e u fe ld t A ssistant to P ublisher , O ffice M anager /C lassifieds : Lucinda Baldwin A ssistant P ublisher : Leonard Latin A dvertising M anager , P ubuc R elations : Tony Washington S taff W riter /P hotographer : Cari Hachmann ----------------- reducing drug-related violence in com munities. Unfortunately, the drug policy de bate favors law and order "toughness" over cost-effective, treatm ent-based methods. Politicians favor stricter laws, but research repeatedly shows that there is little correlation between "tough" laws and decreased drug use or availability. According to a 2012 RAND Corpora tion study, the number of people incarcer ated for drug-law violations grew tenfold between 1980 and 2010, yet drug prices decreased. These "tougher" laws have resulted in 500,000 drug offenders in prison — a disproportionately Latino and African-American population — soaring expenses, and little investment in public health programs to treat the root problem. Even in the face of failed strategies, many fear that "legalization" would elimi nate all restrictions on drug use. In fact, a reasonable alternative would be to regu late some or all drugs just as we already do with the most commonly abused sub- USPS 959-680 --------------------- stances: tobacco and alcohol. Polling and voting data show grow ing support for this alternative. A ma jority of U.S. citizens believe that mari juana should be legal. More Coloradans voted for regulating marijuana than for reelecting Barack Obama — 54.8 per cent versus 51 percent. Washington's voters joined Colorado in passing a measure regulating the sale of marijuana and several other states have passed laws regulating the sale of medical marijuana. Because these measures are in violation of federal prohibition laws, drug policy reform advocates are waiting to see whether the Obama administration will block them. It's time to end the failed Drug War and explore alternatives more effective than prohibition. Hopefully, someday soon Con gress and the White House will heed the message from voters in Colorado and Washington State. Austin Robles works in Colombia fo r Witness fo r Peace. 47 47 NE Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd., Portland, OR 97211 The Portland Observer welcomes freelance submissions. Manuscripts and photographs should be clearly labeled and will be returned if accompanied by a self addressed envelope. All created design display ads become the sole property of the newspaper and cannot be used in other publications or personal usage without the written consent of the general manager, unless the client has purchased the composition of such ad. © 2008 THE PORT LAND OBSERVER. 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