Sixty percent of police chiefs nationwide admit that police and other law enforcement agencies have been unsuccessful in reducing the drug problem in the United States and an overwhelming majority (85 percent) call for major changes in the way America deals with drug use, according to a joint study conducted by the Police Foundation and Drug Strategies — a Washington D.C. based organization that advocates a more balanced approach to fighting drugs.
“Police Chiefs want to see a balanced approach,” Police Foundation President Hubert Williams recently told the Law Enforcement News in response to the report. “They recognize that a narrow strategy directed down a single corridor will not work.” More than 300 police chiefs from around the country participated in the study.
The report’s key findings are as follows:
- Only 15 percent of the police chiefs polled say punishment would be more effective than education, interdiction, or treatment in controlling drug problems; only 10 percent of chiefs who have served in a narcotics division choose punishment over the other options.
- Nearly three-fourths say that mandatory minimum sentences for drug possession have been only somewhat effective or not really the answer to drug trafficking in their communities; only 21 percent say mandatory sentences have been very or fairly effective.
- Only 28 percent regard low conviction rates, either for dealers or users, as key limitations in their ability to deal with drugs in their communities.
- By two to one, police chiefs say that putting drug users in court-supervised treatment programs (59 percent) is more effective than prison or jail time (28 percent).
- Only three percent believe that current efforts by law enforcement have been very successful in reducing the drug problem in the United States.
“The findings of the Police Foundation and Drug Strategies demonstrate that the majority of our nation’s police chiefs who are on the front lines of the ‘War on Drugs’ do not favor the ‘get-tough’ approaches against drug users that are so often heralded by our political leaders and supported by the American public,” said NORML Deputy Director Allen St. Pierre.
For more information, please contact Drug Strategies at (202) 663-6090.