October 19, 2006 Issue

The Public Record of the Northwest Florida Daily News on October 16th listed 44 felony arrests. Ten of those arrests were drug violations. Thirty of the other arrests appeared to be drug related. What an incredible burden we have brought upon ourselves.

One of the primary problems with our overloaded justice system began with the death of Len Bias. Bias was a basketball star at the University of Maryland. After signing a contract to play for the Boston Celtics, he died from an overdose of cocaine. Tip O’Neill, the powerful congressman from Massachusetts, powered a bill through congress dramatically changing drug laws in this country. The new laws established minimum-mandatory penalties for drug possession and for drug trafficking. Discretion regarding sentencing was removed from our judicial system.

Now, there is little room in our prisons for anyone other than drug offenders. The line between trafficking and possessing drugs, particularly cocaine, is a thin one. And the penalties for crack cocaine, which has been devastating to the black community, are far more rigid than the penalties for powder cocaine, the drug of choice for Anglo-Americans.

We have just opened a restaurant in Tuscaloosa, Ala. Tuscaloosa is not one of our major urban areas, but it seems to suffer from the same problems that larger cities in this country have to deal with. There is a significant black population and a large, if unskilled, black labor force. It took awhile for us to realize that the percentage of black males between the ages of 20 and 60 who have been incarcerated is mind-boggling. One day, when I checked on the blue-plate special, I saw a 14-inch white platter of fried chicken, rice, mashed potatoes, and cabbage. After pointing out to our kitchen manager that we probably needed a bit more color on our plates he explained the problem. “Where these guys have come from, presentation and a pleasing palette of color on a plate were not priorities.”

Black males in our society today are not afraid of prison. They are all too familiar with it. One night in prison would cause me to cease doing whatever it was that got me in jail to begin with. That is not the case with the black youth of today. They have seen friends, cousins, brothers, uncles and fathers spend time in prison and it has become an almost anticipated rite of passage for them.

Several years ago a documentary on PBS chronicled the black community of Uniontown, Ala. Ninety percent of the adult black men in that town had been jailed for conspiracy to distribute crack cocaine. In reality, there was only one key drug dealer. The town was virtually devoid of black males. One of the black women in town pointed out the surreal nature of her town. “If everyone’s a drug dealer, there should be lots of money. Nobody I know even has an automobile.”

This country spends so much money and effort enforcing drug laws and incarcerating the violators that there is little time for other aspects of criminal enforcement. Our police, our judicial system, our lawyers, and our penal institutions are overwhelmed and under-qualified to deal with the runaway drug problems we face today.

The waste of money and life and respect that we are experiencing in Iraq make it difficult to address this problem. However, there is a parallel between the two nightmares. We know the collateral damage to families during wartime is massive. The American soldiers who have been killed or injured in war all have families who must adjust to incredibly difficult situations. The Iraqi’s who have suffered the same losses must adjust also. Families who have loved ones incarcerated because of drugs face many of the same challenges.

It is not just the families in these situations who are victims. The loss of life, the loss of productivity, the absence of loved ones, and the waste of tax money needed to enforce essentially victimless crime affects every member of society. There needs to be a sharp delineation in drug penalties in this country discriminating between victimless crimes and violent crimes.

Families continue to endure the brutish effects of drunk drivers. Driving under the influence does not fit under the heading of victimless crimes. And, in truth, many drug abusers are violent and should be treated as such, but there are countless others who do no harm to anyone other than themselves.

Far too many of the people involved in our judicial machine don’t belong there. There are other ways to treat drug offenders than with prison. If this country’s leaders ever have the guts to acknowledge that our archaic system is in shambles we will be on our way to making this a more equitable and livable society.

More from Charles Morgan