African American Professional Organizations Launch Historic Collaboration To Change Drug Policies

National African American Drug Policy Coalition Includes Black Lawyers, Psychologists, Legislators, Nurses, Dentists, Social Workers, Sociologists and Others

Urgently seeking alternatives to misguided drug policies that have made it more likely for an African American man to be in prison than college, key African American professional organizations have joined forces as the National African American Drug Policy Coalition (NAADPC), a five-year program to reduce and prevent illegal drug usage and related crime in the African American community.

Founded by Clyde E. Bailey, Sr., the National Bar Association's immediate past president and patent counsel at Eastman Kodak, the Coalition includes the National Bar Association; Howard University School of Law; the National Association of Black Sociologists; the National Association of Black Psychologists; the National Association of Black Social Workers; the National Black Nurses Association; the National Dental Association; the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives; the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, Inc.; and the National Black Caucus of State Legislators.

Working with initial support from The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Coalition is determined to stop ineffective policies that blindly push punishment as the only way to stop people from using drugs and to advance a public health approach which emphasizes the use of quality addiction treatment and other alternatives, as appropriate.

"Not only have they failed to reduce drug use, these policies are doing irreparable harm to the African American community and do not advance public safety," said Coalition National Executive Director Arthur L. Burnett, Sr., retired senior judge in the District of Columbia." Who would have thought 20 years ago that today there would be more African American men serving time than there are pursuing college degrees? We need to confront the futility of fighting a public health problem solely with prison."

According to a 2002 report by the Justice Policy Institute, at the end of 2000, 791,600 African-American men were behind bars-with drug-related offenses the most common reason for incarceration-compared to 603,032 enrolled in a college or university. By contrast, in 1980, African American men in colleges and universities outnumbered those in prison by a ratio of more than 3 to 1.

The Coalition, which is co-chaired by Kurt L. Schmoke, former mayor of the city of Baltimore and dean of the Howard University School of Law, and Clyde Bailey, is focused on treatment, education and prevention programs that, unlike criminal sanctions, have proven effective at reducing drug use and prison recidivism, thus reducing crimes and making communities safer.

Among other things, the Coalition is fighting to make treatment available to the poor and uninsured and promoting prevention programs that have demonstrated the ability to steer young people away from drug use. It also is putting a spotlight on drug law enforcement activities that have a disproportionate impact on African Americans, other ethnic minorities, and the poor.

As part of their advocacy efforts, Coalition members plan to host a series of seminars across the country to spark a national dialogue on the need to approach addictions to drugs as a public health problem first, and a criminal problem second. The Coalition plans to develop targeted programs around pretrial diversion and therapeutic sentencing. Programs around drug and alcohol prevention and treatment will be initiated in seven pilot cities. Those cities are Chicago, IL, Huntsville, AL, Flint, MI, Seattle, WA, Baltimore, MD, Washington, D.C., and a yet to be determined city in the U.S. Virgin Islands.

"What we hope to do is to shift public resources into education, prevention, treatment and research programs that have proven more effective in reducing drug abuse rather than through the use of expensive criminal sanctions. We are trying to focus on the health issue of these people rather than criminalizing that behavior," said Clyde E. Bailey.

"Effective treatment will reduce the number of crimes which would otherwise have been committed by these individuals, thus making the community safer and reducing the costs of law enforcement and the courts which would have been expended in connection with new crimes," said Arthur L. Burnett, Sr.

Kurt L. Schmoke said,  "This Coalition is the most broad-based group I have ever seen. I hope that it will move drug control policy in a more constructive direction, especially as it relates to people of color. A major effort will focus on therapeutic sentencing, where we will educate and train judges to provide sentences to drug offenders that will make them better people coming out of prison than they were going in."

The National African American Drug Policy Coalition is a preeminent multidisciplinary team of African American professional organizations united to promote public health versus criminalization, as a less expensive, more effective and humane approach to address the chronic societal problem of drug abuse. For more information contact: The Honorable Arthur L. Burnett, Sr., National Executive Director, National African American Drug Policy Coalition, Phone: 202-806-8211.

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, based in Princeton , NJ , is the nation's largest philanthropy devoted exclusively to health and health care. It concentrates its grant making in four goal areas: to assure that all Americans have access to quality health care at reasonable cost; to improve the quality of care and support for people with chronic health conditions; to promote healthy communities and lifestyles; and to reduce the personal, social and economic harm caused by substance abuse - tobacco, alcohol and illicit drugs. More information on RWJF can be found at www.rwjf.org .

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