For more information, contact:
Eric E. Sterling, President
The Criminal Justice Policy Foundation
Tel. (301) 589-6020

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Washington, D.C. – In an open letter to Gen. Barry McCaffrey and other “Hemisphere Drug Policy Makers” meeting here this week, a group of distinguished Americans and Latin Americans call for a halt to the U.S.-led “war on drugs.” The letter, signed by a dozen prominent politicians, jurists, doctors, artists and religious leaders, states that “it is time to admit that after two decades the U.S. war on drugs -- both in Latin America and in the United States -- is a failure.” The letter will be released at a press conference, 10 a.m, Nov. 3, 1999 at the National Press Club, 14th and F Streets, NW, 13th Floor. The letter is being distributed to government officials attending the Western Hemisphere Drug Leadership Conference, Nov. 3-5. “Delegates to the summit know that the problem of drugs is a crisis around the world. They know the U.S. Government has been a global leader in pushing an ever-harsher approach toward the problem,” said Eric E. Sterling, President of The Criminal Justice Policy Foundation. “The delegates should be encouraged to challenge the American approach, otherwise the problems their nations will face will grow worse, not better.”

“Leading figures from the hemisphere have signed a letter to the delegates calling for an honest evaluation of the anti-drug strategy. We do not need millions more of American military assistance to pay for arms, helicopters, or toxic herbicides. Drug-related problems can be reduced more effectively by focusing on public health, economic development, and protecting human rights,” said Coletta A. Youngers, Washington Office on Latin America.

Michael S. Gelacak, Esq., Vice Chairman and Commissioner, U.S. Sentencing Commission, 1990-1998, the government agency that studies Federal criminal sentences and recommends sentence ranges to judges and changes in sentences to Congress, explains that the U.S. militarized anti-drug strategy is not cost effective: “The research shows that $1.5 billion requested to buy arms and equip the Colombian security forces could much more effectively address the hemisphere’s drug problem if it were spent on drug treatment in the United States. The RAND corporation’s analysis demonstrates that drug treatment is 23 times more effective in countering the cocaine trade than crop control measures in the Andes.”

Regarding the impact of the government’s counternarcotics strategy in the U.S., Rev. Bernard Keels, of the United Methodist Church, said, “The crisis of drug abuse needs real material solutions in America’s cities – adequate education and employment opportunities, treatment for domestic violence and child abuse, and fully-funded drug treatment – and a spiritual confrontation that does not attempt to blame others – such as peasants in South America – for our failings as individuals and a society.”

The letter is attached.

The prominent signers of the letter include:

Antonio Aranibar, Former Foreign Minister of Bolivia
Oscar Arias, Former President of Costa Rica and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate
Harry Belafonte, Entertainer and Activist
Belisario Betancur, Former President of Colombia
Rev. Dr. Joan Brown Campbell, General Secretary, National Council of Churches
Jorge Castaneda, Professor of Politics, New York University
Violeta Chamorro, Former President of Nicaragua
Adolfo Perez Esquivel, Argentine Nobel Peace Prize Laureate
Shirley Fingerhood, Former Justice of the New York State Supreme Court
James P. Gray, Judge of the Superior Court, Orange County, California
Dr. Howard Hiatt, Former Dean, Harvard School of Public Health
Cruz Reynoso, Former Justice of the California State Supreme Court
Mario Vargas Llosa, Peruvian writer and Politician
Robert E. White, President, Center for International Policy (former U.S. Ambassador to El Salvador and Paraguay) Speakers at the press conference include:
Michael S. Gelacak, Esq., Vice-Chairman and Commissioner, U.S. Sentencing Commission, 1990-1998
Martin Jelsma, Transnational Institute in Amsterdam (TNI)
Rev. Bernard Keels, St. Mark’s United Methodist Church, Baltimore, MD
Frank Smyth, Freelance Journalist
Eric E. Sterling, Esq., President, Criminal Justice Policy Foundation
Margarita Teran Gonzales, Secretary, Coca Growers Organization, Cochabamba, Bolivia
Leonilda Zurita Vargas, President, Coca Growers Organization, Cochabamba, Bolivia
Coletta A. Youngers, Washington Office on Latin America
Robert A. White, Former Ambassador to El Salvador and Paraguay, President of Center for International Policy

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