by Phillip Smith
The Democrats are on their way home from the national convention in Charlotte, and now is a good time to examine their official stand on drug policy. A review of the 2012 Democratic National Platform suggests there’s not much new there.
There are only a handful of mentions of drugs or drug policy in the text of the platform — and the word “marijuana” doesn’t appear at all — all of them having to do with either combating international organized crime or touting the Obama administration’s baby steps toward a progressive drug policy.
The first mention of drugs comes in the section about “Strengthening the American Community” and its subsection about Puerto Rico. It calls for more drug law enforcement there: “We support increased efforts by the federal government to improve public safety in Puerto Rico and the United States Virgin Islands, with a particular emphasis on efforts to combat drug trafficking and crime throughout our Caribbean border.”
Similarly, in the platform’s subsections on “Transnational Crime” and “The Americas,” the mention of drugs and drug policy comes only in the context of fighting crime. The former section merely notes that “transnational criminal organizations have accumulated unprecedented wealth and power through the drug trade, arms smuggling, human trafficking, and other illicit activities” and touts the Obama administration’s comprehensive Strategy to Combat Transnational Organized Crime.
In the latter section, there is more “tough on crime” talk: “We have strengthened cooperation with Mexico, Colombia, and throughout Central America to combat narco-traffickers and criminal gangs that threaten their citizens and ours. We will also work to disrupt organized crime networks seeking to use the Caribbean to smuggle drugs into our country. As we collectively confront these challenges, we will continue to support the region’s security forces, border security, and police with the equipment, training, and technologies they need to keep their communities safe. We will improve coordination and share more information so that those who traffic in drugs and in human beings have fewer places to hide. And we will continue to put unprecedented pressure on cartel finances, including in the United States.”
The only other mention of drugs or drug policy comes in the platform subsection on “Public Safety, Justice, and Crime Prevention.” Here, even as they acknowledge that serious crime is at a 50-year low, the Democrats say they are “fighting for new funding that will help keep cops on the street” and “to ensure our courageous police officers and first responders are equipped with the best technology, equipment, and innovative strategies to prevent and fight crimes.”
The platform also says that Democrats will “[continue] to invest in proven community-based law enforcement programs such as the Community Oriented Policing Services program” and “support local prison-to-work programs and other initiatives to reduce recidivism, making citizens safer and saving the taxpayers money.”
The Democrats “will continue to fight inequalities in our criminal justice system,” the platform says, pointing to the passage of the Fair Sentencing Act as “reducing racial disparities in sentencing for drug crimes.” The act actually addresses only crack cocaine sentencing.
Finally, the platform calls for increased law enforcement cooperation: “We must help state, local, territorial, and tribal law enforcement work together to combat and prevent drug crime and drug and alcohol abuse, which are blights on our communities. We have increased funding for the Byrne Justice Assistance Grant Program over the last four years, and we will continue to expand the use of drug courts.”
This is your Democratic platform on drugs.
For Stop The Drug War’s take on the Republican platform, go here.
Article From StoptheDrugWar.org - Creative Commons Licensing
