Letter to candidates

Here is the letter that I am sending to candidates today:

Dear Candidate,

Congratulations on your participation in this extremely important election.

I would like to ask your thoughts on a very important but little discussed subject, the failed war on drugs.

The war on drugs, which has been waged vigorously by Republican and Democratic administrations alike since the 1970s, has had a number of negative impacts with little practical benefits. Drug prohibition funds inner city gangs, ruins lives (not only of those imprisoned, but of their families as well), swells the prison population, and promotes corruption in neighboring countries (thus, in the long run, aggravating immigration problems). What should congress do to alleviate these damaging results of our perpetual, unwinnable war on drugs?

On a related issue, in California, wouldn’t it be better to reduce the prison population than to increase our already-draconian prison capacity by 57,000 new beds, as the recent agreement between the governor and legislature does?

I would be very interested in hearing your thoughts on this. Are you committed to perpetuating this failed policy, or do you think there is a better way to deal with the problems of drug abuse?

Thank you,

Peter Rashkin