Issues of race, police brutality, overcrowded prisons and voter rights took center stage Tuesday evening at "The Drug Policy Forum" in PAC 001. While over 30 students attended and two guests spoke against the Drug War, conspicuously absent was anybody with an opposing view.

The event was sponsored by Wesleyan’s Cannabis Coalition, and featured the retired police chief of New Haven, Nicholas Pastore, and a lawyer from the Hartford ACLU office, Alicia Young. 

"We tried to have people from the other side [supporters of the United States’ current drug enforcement policy] come speak, but they did a good job giving us the run-around," said Rafael Bratman ’00, a member of the Cannabis Coalition and the organizer of Tuesday’s event. "It’s unfortunate because the people that did speak were incredible, but they were
preaching to the converted."

Young spoke about "Felony Disenfranchisement," America’s current policy under which anybody caught possessing drugs loses the right to vote.

"The War on drugs is a war on the Bill of Rights," Young said.

Young stressed the waywardness of this policy.

"The goals of judicial punishment are rehabilitation and deterrence," she said. "How does keeping people from voting help these things?" 

In February, the national prison population exceeded two million, according to Young. That’s higher than the entire prison population of Europe, she said.

A large percentage of those convictions are for drug-related crimes.

Young also talked about the unfairness of the current system to African-Americans and other minorities. 

"Blacks are arrested more frequently and punished more harshly than whites," Young said.

She gave the example that in California, 70 percent of those convicted of drug crimes are African-American. 

"One-third of black men in California can’t vote because of a felony conviction," she said. "These are the new Jim Crow laws. There used to be literacy tests or poll taxes to keep people from voting, now we have Felony Disenfranchisement."

Young urged the students attending to raise their voices, especially now that in the state of Connecticut there is a bill pending that deals with the constitutionality of Felony
Disenfranchisement.

Bratman said he also invited Pastore to speak because of his perspective on the drug war. 

"He worked as a Narc, busting people for years," Bratman said. "Then he saw the light and came around to our side." 

Pastore has been speaking around the nation against the Drug War for years. When he worked as the police chief of New Haven, he faced massive criticism for being one of the first police chiefs in the nation to start a "Needles for Methadone" program which allowed heroine addicts to turn in their needles for prescribed treatment of the less dangerous drug,
methadone. 

"The War on drugs has been a disaster," Pastore said. "Vietnam is here again. We’ve lost this war and we should get the hell out of here." 

Pastor charged that "there are a lot of people making a lot of money from this drug war." He said that with prison populations soaring and the need for new prisons being so high,
"private companies are building jails, and prisons are businesses invested in and traded on the stock exchange."

Pastore said the prison system is non-functional and inhumane. He said it’s important to realize 96 percent of prisoners reenter society.  

"They’re not better off," he said. "They’re meaner."

He also charged that the drug war is unequal in its treatment of the poor. 

"There is only drug treatment for the rich," Pastore explained. "They’re the only people who can afford it. Inner city people can’t get treatment. So instead of giving them the treatment they need, the government throws them in jail."

Pastore also spoke about recent policing issues, and referred to the massive numbers of recent police shooting of unarmed men, many of whom were African-American.

He talked about Rudy Giulliani, the mayor of New York City as a prime example. 

"Rudy in New York is reinstitution-alizing Jim Crow laws," Pastore said. "His response to everything is to sweep things under the rug. The reason you don’t see any homeless people in New York is because [Giulliani] has made laws specifically targeted at harassing them."

Most students who attended the event were impressed by the speakers.

Meredith Jacks ’03 said she hopes to revive the Wesleyan branch of the ACLU next year and is interested in getting more hard facts on the drug war. 

"I think the drug war is an issue where most people are going by their gut and not getting information," she said.

Nina Barrett ’03 said she, too, was interested in getting more facts and wanted to hear what experts in the field had to say.