In what is being described as an “historic resolution,” the NAACP has called for an end to the United States’ “war on drugs.”

A majority of delegates approved the resolution Tuesday at the 102nd NAACP Annual Convention in Los Angeles.

Rather than spending billions on law enforcement to battle illegal drugs, the nation’s oldest and largest civil rights organization said government should instead “allocate funding to investigate substance abuse treatment, education and opportunities in communities of color.”

“Today the NAACP has taken a major step towards equity, justice and effective law enforcement,” NAACP president and CEO Benjamin Jealous said in a statement released to the media. “These flawed drug policies that have been mostly enforced in African American communities must be stopped and replaced with evidenced-based practices that address the root causes of drug use and abuse in America.”

The NAACP estimates that the “failed drug war,” is costing the nation about $40 billion annually. Much of that money, the organization said, is spent “locking up low-level drug offenders” in communities of color.

Relative to their white counterparts, African Americans are 13 times more likely to go to jail for the same drug-related offense, the NAACP said.

“Studies show that all racial groups abuse drugs at similar rates, but the numbers also show that African Americans, Hispanics and other people of color are stopped, searched, arrested, charged, convicted and sent to prison for drug-related charges at a much higher rate,” said Alice Huffman, president of the California State Conference of the NAACP. “This dual system of drug law enforcement that serves to keep African-Americans and other minorities under lock and key and in prison must be exposed and eradiated [sic].”

Instead of sending drug offenders to prison, the resolution calls for more rehabilitation and treatment programs, methadone clinics, and other “treatment protocols that have been proven effective.”

Robert Rooks, director of the NAACP Criminal Justice Program, called the war on drugs “a complete failure.”

“The only thing we’ve accomplished is becoming the world’s largest incarcerator, sending people with mental health and addiction issues to prison, and creating a system of racial disparities that rivals Jim Crow policies of the 1960s.”

Once ratified by the NAACP board of directors in October, the resolution will encourage the organization’s more than 1,200 units across the country to “organize campaigns to advocate for the end of the war on drugs.”
 

Got news to share with Qcity readers? Email us at editor@qcitymetro.com.
Sign up for our weekly email newsletter below

Sign up for our Weekly Email Newsletter Email: For Email Marketing you can trust

Other Ways to Share Twitter Del.icio.us MySpace

Discussions and Submission Agreement