Subscribe
The Daily Grind Video
CLOSE

Attorney General Eric Holder is showing extraordinarily leadership and telling the world something we all agree upon: the War on Drugs is a failure. A few month ago, Russell Simmons and Dr. Boyce Watkins led an effort to gain public support for a national movement to end mass incarceration, that included a letter to President Obama signed by celebrities (Kim Kardashian, Scarlett Johannson, Will Smith, Nicki Minaj and more), civil rights leaders, politicians, religious leaders, educators and major thought leaders.   Mr. Holder heard their call loud and clear, and will make a major announcement next week. During a recent interview with NPR, Holder conceded that there are too many people locked up in jails across the country and reform needs to be made for sentencing culprits.

“The war on drugs is now 30, 40 years old. There have been a lot of unintended consequences. There’s been a decimation of certain communities, in particular communities of color….“[W]e can certainly change our enforcement priorities, and so we have some control in that way,” Holder said. “How we deploy our agents, what we tell our prosecutors to charge, but I think this would be best done if the executive branch and the legislative branch work together to look at this whole issue and come up with changes that are acceptable to both” Holder stated.

The director of national affairs for the Drug Policy Alliance, Bill Piper, agrees with Holder as well.

“Attorney General Holder is clearly right to condemn mass incarceration and racial disparities in the criminal justice system,” said Piper declared.  “Both he and the president have an opportunity to leave a lasting legacy by securing substantial, long overdue drug policy reform.”

A number of reform bills have been sent to Congress and many high profile people such as Russell Simmons have personally spoken to President Obama, voicing their opinions on drug reform.

Piper added:

“The U.S. is at a pivotal moment right now where fundamental change to our bloated, racially-biased criminal justice system is possible,” said Piper. “But change isn’t inevitable; it will take significant leadership by Attorney General Holder, President Obama, and both Democrats and Republicans in Congress.”

The United States is losing the War on Drugs and it’s about time more lawmakers begin to take note.

SOURCE: NPR