Cook County President Preckwinkle Declares “War on Drugs” a Failure
At a noontime rally in the Chicago loop last Friday, Cook County President Preckwinkle condemned the increasingly unpopular “war on drugs.” She was the lone elected official openly criticizing the enforcement strategy, which dates back to Nixon’s presidency.
Preckwinkle emphasized the excessive and ineffective use of prisons to address drug use, explained the need for alternatives to incarceration. “Rather than invest in detaining people in the Cook County Jail at almost $150 a day … we need to invest in treatment, education and job skills training. That’s the only way … we are going to reduce crime and stabilize our communities,” she said, according to the Chicago Tribune.
The rally also drew attention to a recent state-funded study that showed that nonwhite individuals are more likely to be arrested, charged, and ultimately jailed for drug crimes, despite lower rates of drug usage than whites. Chicago Appleseed Executive Director Malcolm Rich served on the committee for that study.
The Cook County President joins a growing number of high-profile figures in declaring the “war on drugs” a failure. Rarely has an issue united such a spectrum of voices, ranging from liberal activist Reverend Jesse Jackson to right-wing voice Grover Norquist; from the American Bar Association to prominent members of the medical community. Their commentary has been fueled in part by the Global Commission on Drug Policy’s unqualified critique of the prison-focused approach to what has become an international crisis.
Chicago Appleseed is a leader in advocating for alternative sentencing for nonviolent drug offenders. Building on reports from last summer, we are currently working with a number of key stakeholders to develop a “Blueprint” for a Diversion Division within the Cook County Criminal Court. Diversion Division judges would assign qualified defendants to community-based treatment for addiction and mental illness in lieu of incarceration. The program has the potential to save the cash-strapped Cook County tens of millions of dollars in court processing and incarceration expenses alone.