Jim Gierach (left) and Kevin Sabet (right) brought opposing viewpoints to a debate on U.S. drug policy
sponsored by the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws. Debbie Myung/The Daily Northwestern
During a heated debate in Fisk Hall on Thursday, two experts could agree on only one point: Drug policy in the United States needs reform. About 40 students attended the discussion on drug policy in the United States sponsored by the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws-Students for Sensible Drug Policy. The event was the culmination of Drug Week, which aimed to raise awareness on campus about drug policy.
Kevin Sabet, a former drug policy adviser for the Office of National Drug Control Policy under the Bill Clinton and George W. Bush administrations, advocated more effective law enforcement policies. The other debater was Jim Gierach, a semi-retired criminal defense attorney and member of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, who supported drug legalization.
Sabet and Gierach both agreed that drug policy needs reforming, but they disagreed as to the most useful approach.
Gierach said the War on Drugs has been the source of other problems, including dropout rates, terrorism, health care problems, AIDS and gun control issues.
“Not only does the War on Drugs not work,” he said. “But the War on Drugs is the hub of any other crisis you can name.”
Sabet agreed that there are problems with the nation’s current drug policy, but said he does not believe legalization is the solution.
“We can reform the worst parts of what’s going on with our drug policy,” he said. “And that’s implying that there certainly are problems. As Bill Clinton said about welfare: ‘Mend it, don’t end it.'”
The problem of the “revolving door of justice,” by which offenders are incarcerated multiple times, could be fixed by more effective treatment programs, Sabet said.
“We do a terrible job handling those people,” he said. “We don’t give them employment opportunities.”
Law enforcement and health improvement do not have to be “incompatible and mutually exclusive,” he said, pointing to Illinois as a “trailblazer” in effective intervention and re-entry programs.
Sabet and Gierach concluded the debate by emphasizing their fundamental disagreement on the role of government in conducting drug policy.
“People in a free society should have the right to do things that aren’t brilliant,” Gierach said.
Sabet countered that drug use does not occur in a “vacuum.” It harms other people, so the government has a responsibility to act, he said.
Chris Dion, a senior visiting from the University of Michigan, said neither Gierach nor Sabet was “completely right” because the issue is “more complicated than anyone wants to admit.”
“I liked Sabet’s viewpoint more because it was based more on cold, hard facts, not anecdotes,” he said. “They made an interesting attempt to show both sides.”
Music and Weinberg senior Andrew Haynie agreed that the debate was balanced and fair, but said he sided more with Gierach.
“The audience was clearly in favor of one side, being on a college campus,” he said. “I didn’t completely agree with either, but I agreed less with Sabet.”
James Kowalsky, the outgoing president of Northwestern’s chapter of NORML, said the event was successful because it got people to “think about things and hear arguments they hadn’t heard.”
The Communication senior said he hopes Drug Week gave NORML positive visibility as a club that is more than “a bunch of people who smoke pot.”
“We’re not that,” he said. “The Drug War is a real issue, like health care or anything else. We’re open-minded enough to bring a debate.”
