Teaching Common Sense

I suppose no one is surprised there is a organization of Students for Sensible Drug Policy but how many of you realize there is also an Educators For Sensible Drug Policy. Formerly known as Teachers Against Prohibition, this group is in a better position than most of us to assess the effects the War on Some Drugs has on our children. According to their mission statement:

Educators For Sensible Drug Policy opposes criminal prohibition of drugs. Not only does it subject otherwise law-abiding citizens to arrest, prosecution and imprisonment for what they do in private, but prohibition is a proven failure as a drug control strategy.

Unfortunately, our schools are often times the battlegrounds upon which the "War on Drugs" is waged, with our children always ending up the victims. EFSDP is committed to combating the Higher Education Act Amendment, D.A.R.E. in our schools, and the drug testing of students who wish to participate in extra-curricular activities.

Teachers are forced to witness the harms of the prohibition on a daily basis while struggling to maintain educational standards with inadequate funds due to state budgets decimated by drug war costs. As they point out:

Our government spends roughly the same amount of money to incarcerate a non-violent marijuana user for one year as it does to pay a teacher to educate an entire classroom for the same amount of time... Which has a more positive effect on society?

I think the answer is obvious. Think about that when the prohibitionists claim they are winning this war.

[Link thanks to Tammera Halphen]