Bill, as a person who voted for Reagan and Bush 41, I think what he was trying to say is that the so-called "war on drugs" was a bad idea in the manner in which it was implemented.
Hmm, let's revisit...
"Just one of many idiotic policies of the Bush-Reagan era."
No, I disagree. I was right when I read it. An anti-Bush screed. My response stands. If I post something derogatory about President Obama, feel free to say the same to me.
You have people doing hard time, longer sentences than rapists and murderers and pedophiles, for pot.
That's a problem that can be addressed. Legalization does not have to be on the agenda to fix that issue.
Illegal narcotic use is a medical issue, and should be treated as such. Even though, medically, MJ is not a narcotic, it's treated that way in the drug laws.
Again, that can be fixed without legalization/decriminalization.
Stepping back from this one issue to look at the bigger picture, we live in a society that is addicted to the notion that harsh sentencing laws reduces crime.
No one knows what reduces crime. Societies have struggled with this issue since civilization began. What works in one country doesn't in another, and no one exactly knows why or why not.
One thing that is true, is that criminals behind bars are not out preying on citizens.
Keep in mind that we are the nation that has succeeded in putting more people in the slammer than any other nation in recorded history, including Soviet Russia.
Even if true (and I do not know that it is)
http://www.straightdope.com/columns...ed-states-lead-the-world-in-prison-population
I don't know why I should care about that. So what?
We are addicted to the idea that the threat of criminal penalty changes medically-motivated behaviour. It doesn't, plain and simple.
I do not see potheads smoking pot to get high as a 'medical' issue.
The legal industry, and privitized prison industry that wearhouses these inmates, is a fast growing business with plenty of lobbyist money. Guess where that money comes from? You and I the taxpayer.
It does. The alternative is that we pay the cost of the damage done to society. I don't know which is worse, but I know which one I prefer.
There's got to be a better way to approach crime prevention than merely throwing the whole country in prison for behaviour whose negative effects on society are frankly dubious.
I disagree that the negative effects are 'dubious'. I think they're quite clear-cut and easy to understand.
I think the after-effects of an ex-con's prison experience is much worse on society than letting him smoke some weed and perhaps get him into an alternative therapy program.
You may be right about the first part of your sentence. I suspect that there are some alternatives between the extremes of
durance vile and
toke up, brother.
93% of the people in prison today will be out walking the streets in 3 years. They'll be standing in line in the grocery store behind your wife and daughter.
And that means they should be let out now instead. Hmmm. Not seeing the logic there.
In any case, I'd dispute that figure. Death by average. Some prisoners will be in the can for decades to life, many will be out in a fairly short time. Depends on the crime, the sample, and what you mean by 'on the street'.
In addition, Matt Yeager's work on the relationship between unemployment and incarceration rates is about to be turned on its head - in general, rates of imprisonment have followed the unemployment rate, although a lagging indicator (15 months). Now, however, with states fighting budget battles and staggering deficits, non-violent prisoners are being turned loose by court order - they just can't afford to keep them imprisoned and are tossing them out even before they are eligible for parole. So it seems you may get your wish.
In any case, debating the appropriate punishment for smoking pot or dealing pot is really not interesting to me. I would have no problem seeing punishments that more accurately reflected the damage done to society by those worthies - I will never change my opinion on the damage pot smokers and pot dealers do to society, nor my opinion of those scum in general. It's an opinion, dig, and I get to have it.
