December S, 2012____________________________
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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
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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
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-----------------
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
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