Cobb Calls For an End to THE RACIST DRUG WAR AND THE PRISON-INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX

The Green Party's presidential candidate, David Cobb, today said that "the racist war on drugs and the prison-industrial complex which it has spawned must come to an end."

(PRWEB) August 15, 2004 -- "The war on drugs is racist and hypocritical," said Cobb. "The drug war disproportionately targets the African American and Latino communities: One third of African American males between the ages of eighteen and thirty are in the prison system or on probation or parole and over two thirds of the prison population is Black and Latino."

"Alcohol and tobacco are two of the most deadly drugs and they are legal and widely available. These dangerous substances remain available for two reasons. One, these drug industries contribute heavily to both of the old parties and two, the same lawmakers who accept these 'contributions' are themselves users of these drugs. Drug users making other peoples drugs illegal and sending them to prison for it is the height of hypocrisy," Cobb added. "This has created a situation where prisons are overflowing with non-violent and otherwise law-abiding individuals."

The U.S. imprisons more people than any other country. Since 1971, U.S. prisons and jails have grown ten-fold, from less then 200,000 inmates to 2.1 million. With only five percent of the world's people, the U.S. accounts for 25 percent of the planet's prisoners -- fully half of them African American. One out of eight prisoners on Earth is African American.

Cobb stressed that drug addiction, of any kind, should be treated as a health concern and not a matter for the criminal justice system.

"With adequately funded schools, social programs and full employment the prison population would be significantly reduced," said Cobb. "We must change our priorities from building prisons to building schools. The racist effect of the drug war, and the connection between schools and prisons, isn't just rhetoric."

Diane F. White, corresponding secretary of the national Green Party's Black Caucus, said that "in some places like Pennsylvania, the government will actually build a brand new state-of-the art prison for juveniles in a rural area before they build a new school in the black community."