Drug policy expert Kathleen Kane-Willis agrees. She led a discussion on the issue Monday at Swift Hall, sponsored by Northwestern NORML (National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, a group that I’m a member of).

Illinois has an enormous drug problem, said Kane-Willis, who is the associate director of The Institute for Metropolitan Affairs and is the co-founder of The Illinois Consortium on Drug Policy (pdf).

“Illinois is second in the nation behind California for the most incarcerated drug offenders,” Kane-Willis said. “The state spends $280 million per year to combat drugs.”

However, that investment has not been very successful.

“Chicago has the third lowest price for heroin, cocaine that is 60 to 70 percent pure with the price continuing to decline, and extremely low prices for amphetamines,” Kane-Willis said.

The policies are failing: More people are being arrested for possession than for sales.

“In 1993, 68 percent of drug offenders were dealers, as opposed to 31 percent for possession,” Kane-Willis said. “In 2002, 45 percent of offenses were sales and 54% were possession.”

Law enforcers are targeting the wrong people and should be focusing on the source of the drug problem, she said.

Furthermore, the prison system is faulty as it is simply a haven for further criminal education and doesn’t provide treatment for the convicts’ drug problems.

“Of the 1.2 million convicts with a substance abuse problem only ten percent receive any treatment,” Kane-Willis said. “Treatment programs are much more cost-efficient. With only $2.3 million spent on drug treatment programs, $40 million could be saved by cutting prison costs and in the process increasing the number of taxpayers.”

Moreover, the current prison system does not provide released offenders with any sort of assistance.

“All they are given is ten dollars and a bus ticket back into the city,” Kane-Willis said. The lack of assistance makes it more likely that a released prisoner will commit a second offense and possibly return to prison.

Kane-Willis proposed to increase the amount of drug treatment, create diversion programs and increase the services for released offenders. Additionally, Kane-Willis stressed the ineffectiveness of our drug education programs.

“DARE didn’t work,” she said. “There is a reason that they pulled its funding. The ‘just say no’ policy just doesn’t work. In 2005, 40 percent of kids said they used, bought, or were offered drugs at school”.

The key period for drug education is later in junior-high and high school anyway, she said.

“56% of heroin users, 72% of meth users and 65% of cocaine users reported there first use before the age of 18,” she said.

To improve the drug education system she suggested stressing the discussion of drugs effects, continuing drug education into junior-high and high school and supplying students with more accurate information.

Kane-Willis also discussed the possibly reasons for racial discrepancies in drug convictions. Whites and suburbians use drugs more frequently and at younger ages than minorities and urban populations. Yet the majority of convictions are minorities and urban dwellers. She gave several explanations for this.

“There definitely is racism in our justice system,” she said. “[For instance,] judges increase penalties for not making bail. That hurts lower income offenders”.

Also, she discussed the fact that drug activity occurs much more often inside homes in the suburbs.

Finally, Kane-Willis discussed the idea that drug use is a social issue, not a moral issue. It impacts many facets of life that people don’t always realize: economics, housing, employment, education, health care, race, age, gender, families and the entire community. For instance, 85 percent of incarcerated women are mothers, making it very difficult for them to support their family.

I definitely have to agree with her that Illinois’s drug policies have many problems. But still, as she said, “drug use is and should be a serious public health issue.”

We had assembled this evening for a discussion with Peter Vilkelis, a Chicago attorney and marijuana advocate as well as a member of the NORML Board of Directors. He touched on many arguments in favor of changing cannabis laws – arguments that I agree with.

Vilkelis’ first argument was that cannabis is a fairly physically harmless drug. Recent studies have shown that the smoking marijuana isn’t as harmful to the lungs as previously thought. In fact, cigarettes are more damaging.

Furthermore, cannabis can be consumed with little effect on the lungs. Vaporization allows the chemical THC to be inhaled without burning the herb or releasing any toxins. Also, THC is fat-soluble, so it can be captured for baking purposes in butter or vegetable fats.

In addition, new research shows that cannabis has little or no addictive properties. If you ask me, any drug or activity can be addicting to people with addictive personality traits, of which I admit I have quite a few.

There are legal drugs that people abuse even more readily than marijuana, such as tobacco, alcohol and even caffeine. All of these drugs are harmful to the body to some extent and can be easily abused, yet they’re legal.

Moreover, studies have shown that cannabis has many possible medicinal uses. There is promising research which suggests marijuana’s potential for use as an anticonvulsant during treatment of epilepsy, Multiple Sclerosis, and other neurological diseases. Also, cannabis can be used to treat nausea and induce appetite for patients facing symptoms caused by chemotherapy and AIDS.

There are dozens of other medicinal marijuana studies showing the many uses of the herb, but much more research and discoveries will be possible when marijuana can be more easily obtained.

It’s almost comical how strict America’s laws are when it comes to marijuana. Fairly harmless marijuana is placed as a Schedule 1 level drug. That’s higher than cocaine and meth and on the same tier as heroin, LSD, and ecstasy. This seems preposterous.

Thousands of police are spending millions of dollars of taxpayers’ money to track down and bust people who possess cannabis. Shouldn’t they have “bigger fish to fry,” like hard-drug dealers, gang-bangers and car thieves?

In making so many cannabis arrests, police also tie up the court system, which slows everything down and costs the state more money. It’s ludicrous. A citizen should be able to use a small amount of a safe substance responsibly and in private without the threat of legal action.

Here’s what Vilkelis had to say about criminalization:

Instead of spending money to “fight” marijuana use, the government could generate income through marijuana taxation. Simply look at what tobacco tax has done for America.

My biggest qualm, however, is with university policies. A single drug infraction causes a college student to lose all of his or her financial aid. Furthermore, it is Northwestern’s policy that if marijuana is smelled in the dorm, the plan of action for Community Assistants is to phone the police, no questions asked. In other words, Northwestern simply refuses to touch the issue. Dorm residents will get written up for possessing alcohol, an equally illegal activity, but they will have police at their door for pot.

Vilkelis’ comments on Northwestern’s marijuana policies:

I personally feel that cannabis possession should be decriminalized and that the current system of enforcement isn’t working. You should examine the facts for yourself and form your own opinion, but as Peter Vilkelis put it, “respect the herb.” If you do feel strongly about decriminalization, get involved and help spur on change.

Vilkelis tells you how:

Enough with my soap-box ranting. For anyone currently dealing with pot-related legal trouble, Vilkelis had this advice:

Listen to one of Sangre’s sets from 2002:

As music director, Sangre listens to and selects newly arriving music, then adds it to Streetbeat’s music library. He also maintains the radio station’s relationship with record labels and does other administrative work.

Sangre heard about Streetbeat at a WNUR station meeting and was enticed by the opportunity.

“They said that I could learn how to DJ for free,” Sangre said. That was all he needed to hear.

Sangre came to Northwestern from Denver with a love for trance music, which has strong roots in the city. He first got involved with WNUR in fall 2004 as an apprentice on the progressive trance show, and by spring quarter he had secured his own hard trance show.

However, things changed for Sangre during March of his sophomore year.

“I said to myself, you’re living in Chicago, the birthplace of house music,” Sangre said. “So I went to Frank Q at Gramaphone Records and said, ‘Make me a house DJ.’ He gave me 40 records, I bought 10 and from then on I’ve been a house DJ.”

Sangre plays house music on his show, The Fringe.

“I like all house, especially local Chicago acts and anything with disco vibes,” Sangre said.

Sangre is also a fan of hard rock music and was the lead singer of a rock band called “Infinite Zero.” However, house music is his true passion, Sangre said.

He’s also an avid dancer and occasionally enjoys going to raves. He can usually be found dancing in the DJ booth.

“Unlike many DJs who can’t dance, I got into DJing because I loved dancing,” Sangre said. “Now I mix the dance music how I want it to sound.”

The “DJ Sangre” moniker holds two meanings: “sangre” stands for energy, blood, and life — “everything the music should make you feel,” Sangre said — and also references the time he spent in the Sangre de Cristo Mountians in Colorado.

DJ Sangre spins exclusively vinyl. He said his main music sources are “Gramaphone Records and online stores having going-out-of-business sales.”

Sangre has headlined shows at Smart Bar in Chicago twice and often plays Streetbeat parties. He said his most memorable set was his very first public show, Streetbeat’s “Eat It 2” party during his sophomore year. He ended the show with an air-guitar solo.

“Thirty of my friends walked into Shanley [Pavilion] just as I came on and started screaming my name”, said Sangre. “From then on, the show was amazing.”

Sangre said WNUR Streetbeat is “an inclusive place where anyone, even someone with no experience can learn to DJ.” He also mentioned that he loves the Dominick’s truck drivers who listen and call into his show.

Sangre is currently working on a documentary about Garth Gaskey, the president of the Polar Bear Club of Milwaukee. As always, he will be cranking out funky tunes on The Fringe, which airs Monday nights 9:30-11:00 PM on WNUR 89.3 FM.

Farley began making electronic music as early as the seventh grade and started DJing as a high school freshman. After playing styles ranging from “drum and bass to trance,” Farley currently spins tech house and minimal techno on his show DropB. Farley described the driving bass and glitchy sounds characteristic of these styles as “your Super Nintendo trying to be funky”.

Farley played at the Anchorman-themed Sex Panther party hosted for free by Streetbeat last quarter. He also said that DJing after Ben Folds’ Dillo Day performance last year was one of his most memorable sets.

Farley plays from both CDs and vinyl. He said the Internet is his main music source, but he also receives tracks directly from local artists.

To Farley, DJing is like “painting with sound.”

“It is making an original piece of art from many other, smaller pieces of art,” Farley said. “Like making a collage of music.”

Northwestern students don’t appreciate WNUR enough, Farley said. But he still enjoys working for the station.

“I’m glad to be involved at someplace where we are pushing the boundaries of music,” he said.

If you want to hear Andy’s show, DropB, tune in to WNUR 89.3 FM every other Tuesday night from 9:30 to 11:00 p.m. central time or you can listen to archived shows at his website www.seeandyspin.com. Click here to listen to a recording of his latest show.