Cook County board head calls for end to drug war

citizen |

CHICAGO (AP) - The Cook County Board president has declared the decades-long war on drug a failure.

Toni Preckwinkle, speaking during a Chicago rally Friday, says the effort has resulted in the incarceration of millions of non-violent offenders, most of whom African-American and Latino. She says the cost of the war on drugs is too great to continue.

According to Preckwinkle, it costs nearly $150 a day to detain people in Cook County Jail. She said the money would be better served being invested in treatment, education and job-skills training.

Hundreds gathered to denounce the war on drugs 40 years after it was declared by then-President Richard Nixon.

A Roosevelt University study out this week indicates Illinois leads the nation in incarcerating a greater percentage of African-Americans for drug crimes than whites.

Associated Press text, photo and/or graphic material shall not be published, broadcast, rewritten for broadcast or publication or redistributed directly or indirectly in any medium. Neither these AP Materials nor any portion thereof may be stored in a computer except for personal and non-commercial use. The AP will not be held liable for any delays, inaccuracies, errors or omissions therefrom or in the transmission or delivery of all or any part thereof or for any damages arising from any of the foregoing.

Latest Stories

Latest Podcast

Secretary of State Giannoulias