Stand By Your Man By Joe Siano

I suggest that you open this window and play this song while reading this blog.

I’ve long believed that all that you really need to know in life can be found in the lyrics of country songs.

Sadly for thousands of women, particularly African-American women, following Tammy’s advice to “stand by your man” can lead to hard time in the slammer. 

In her new book, Misguided Justice: The War on Drugs and the Incarceration of Black Women, Dr. Bush-Baskette examines the impact of the War on Drugs on Black women.  Although it’s not just a Black issue because I’ve seen it happen in my own family.

In war, we call the death, destruction and violence inflicted upon non-combatants collateral damage.  In the Drug War, collateral damage often falls upon the wives and girlfriends of the men who deal in the drug trade.

While our American system of jurisprudence will not compel a wife to testify against her husband, that same justice system will convict a women of being an accessory to drug trafficking for simply allowing to happen from her home or her car. 

Drug addiction and dependency is a modern tragedy   But the War on Drugs is failing.  It does little to keep drugs out the hands of eager buyers.  Nor does it effectively combat the quasi-national, paramilitary drug cartels.

America needs to take fresh look at its drug enforcement policies, to weigh their costs, benefits and repercussions.  When over half of the inmates in federal prisons are in for drug related offenses, yet a $40 billion-plus per year illegal drug industry flourishes, the conservative mind should recognize the free market and work and try to capitalize upon it for legal gain.  The liberal mind should see it as an opportunity to tax and regulate.  The combination of these approaches would serve us better than what we have now.

Incarcerating our young men and women is not the answer.  We cannot afford to maintain the prison population.  Nor can we afford the culture of dependency that we create when these people are released into a job market that regards them as “damaged goods”.