Why David Simon is Right

Last night, I watched David Simon being interviewed on Real Time with Bill Mahr. David Simon, who I know as the creator of the HBO series the Wire (a fascinating social critique of intercity Baltimore), was discussing how the war on drugs in the United States has failed miserably. He explained that the United States has more people serving prison time for non-violent offenses (most of them drug related) then any other country in the world.

Many of the people I see at my clinic are non-violent drug offenders who are constantly in and out of prison, which exacerbates their addictions, and often leaves them looking for their next fix the minute they are released. In prison, there is no treatment, there is no rehabilitation, only a breeding ground for physical and emotional abuse, and frankly a waste of tax payers' dollars (only 7% of people in prison today are actually violent offenders).

In other words, the war on drugs has really become part of a cycle of social and economic marginalization. Throwing a person with paranoid schizophrenia and crack addiction in prison for shop lifting, just perpetuates that cycle.......