20, 000 crack users and dealers will be coming to a community near you sooner than you think! (drug, crime)

[MiamiRob]

Originally Posted by fishmonger

It would have to be HEAVILY regulated for that to work, or it would be a nightmare, I think. ^^^^^ What regulations would you recommend? A maximum potency limit, maybe? Or only allowing use in designated, secure areas?

fish if they did legalize it I guess it would be like prescription drugs or a amount alloted everyday to a addict with counseling. I know it sounds funny but most of these people would rather not be addicted to drugs which is different from some hipster doing some blow to party on the weekend.

[Hawkeye48]

Although I don't support early releases for people who deal crack, I do think our prisons are too over crowded and nobody should go to prison for a drug dependency. Being hooked on drugs is a disease and it's been criminalized. It's true what they say, it's cheaper to send a man to college than it is to send him to prison. People frequently use deadly drugs because they have no hope in their lives. Building more and more prisons isn't the answer. By imprisoning drug addicts we're not solving the problem.

We need to remove the socioeconomic and hopeless conditions that are causing people to turn to drugs in the first place. If someone has heart disease we operate on him, and give him the medication he needs to get better. But we also address what causes heart disease. We eat better and exercise more. What's better? To pay $100,000 for a triple bypass or to eat your veggies and exercise more? The same thing applies to people who have a drug dependency.

[ayannaaaliyah]

This is not about releasing crack dealers and crack addicts. This proposal reform is about the sentencing guidelines for crack vs. powder cocaine

You need powder cocaine to make crack - so which is worse and which deserves the harsher penalty Neither is worse than the other, they are both equally bad. You can't have the latter without having powder cocaine, therefore possession of either should carry the same sentence.

An illegal drug is just that, "illegal" no matter what way you want to dress it up.

[cleatis]

Originally Posted by Sooner_Nation_60

I think this is probably in reaction to prison over-crowding. Release a few crack-heads and make room for the child molesters and murderers......

you really hit the nail i think. there is a pretty large meth problem here and the prisons are full of meth users. it isn't a pretty picture at all...

[chielgirl]

Parker, were you serious about the PSAs? I live outside of the US at the moment and am not privy to US ads. If it's in a PSA, then (from my experience) it can't be true.

[GregW]

I suggest we release them and provide for free all the high purity crack they can use and a little more. Then the problems become self limiting. There are not a lot of elderly crack addicts around. This would be the cheapest solution possible.

[stlsteved]

Crack is Back!!

[Nirvana-Guy]

Originally Posted by Minnehahapolitan

If we wanted these people in prison, we would need more prisons
If we need more prisons, we need to raise taxes to build them. The ramifications of elections, eh? Lock them away, and raise a few more dollars to do it.

We desperately need more prisons. Or maybe we need to start shipping the hundres of thousand of illegal aliens who are in US prisons to serve the rest of their time in their home countries.

I'd gladly pay more in taxes to have more prisons built to house illegal aliens and all drug dealers.

Originally Posted by TriMT7

Maybe those who merely possessed the crack - and all drugs - SHOULD be released from prison and sent to detox. It's ridiculously expensive to house a criminal in prison for a year, so it makes sense to invest in a person's potential - as small as it may be - rather than locking them up.

I'd much rather see crackheads sent to rehab, and then engaged in some sort of community development work (AKA, labor projects).

Detox doesn't work. These people would escape. The DEALERS are rarely users. These guys will go back to selling crack the second they get let out.

Labor projects..... like.... The Chain gang!! LOL

Originally Posted by Bunky39

i am so glad you are making this post. drugs are a major problem.
wherever there is crack there is a lot of money being handed out.
often (not always) its comin from mom and dad.

Oh in orlando FL, Crack is like water. It is everywhere. That is why crime rates have quadrupled there, specially once the Katrina people came over. 99% of them are drug users or drug dealers... it is awful. Mostly crack, that is why the crimes there are SO violent now.

Originally Posted by bily4

Read the article. The purpose of the effort is to try to make criminal penalties equivalent for crack users and for powder cocaine users. Is there some reason one should be penalized much heavier than the other?

Guidelines that went into effect November 1 already have reduced the disparity between sentences for crack possession convictions and convictions for possessing cocaine in powder form.

Before the changes, a criminal found guilty of having one gram of crack cocaine would receive the same penalty as someone with 100 grams of the powder version.

Here is WHY the guidelines are different:

- If you muder someone or you steal something, should both charges carry the same sentence? Certainly NOT.

- The rationalle is the same with drugs: should setences for Marijuana, crack, and coke all be the same?? have you heard of a marijuana addict killing someone for $5? Have you heard of a cokehead killing someone for $5? But you heard about CRACKHEADS killing someone for $5!! That is WHY crack SHOULD have heavier penalties!

Originally Posted by MiamiRob

this is somewhat of a race issue since most crack users are black & most "powder" cocaine users are white. How many snorting white yuppies who did coke are languishing in prison? In the 80s Miami started the "drug" court which sentenced addicts to detox & rehab instead of locking them up which costs a hell of a lot more. I know some cities adopted the concept and of course very violent offenders are a whole other issue unto itself.

That is not about race. This is about a drug that KILLS and inprisons (the drug causes people to become overnight losers, therefore I say the drug inprisons people) millions of people.

Yuppies who snort powder go to prison all the time. The reason they serve less time is because crackheads are violent and usually they go to prison for the crack offense + all the other stuff they do. Most common is resisting arrest with violence when they are ona crack high.

Coke people are mostly paranoid, but usually not violent like the crack ones.

Originally Posted by Hawkeye48

Although I don't support early releases for people who deal crack, I do think our prisons are too over crowded and nobody should go to prison for a drug dependency. Being hooked on drugs is a disease and it's been criminalized. It's true what they say, it's cheaper to send a man to college than it is to send him to prison. People frequently use deadly drugs because they have no hope in their lives. Building more and more prisons isn't the answer. By imprisoning drug addicts we're not solving the problem.

We need to remove the socioeconomic and hopeless conditions that are causing people to turn to drugs in the first place. If someone has heart disease we operate on him, and give him the medication he needs to get better. But we also address what causes heart disease. We eat better and exercise more. What's better? To pay $100,000 for a triple bypass or to eat your veggies and exercise more? The same thing applies to people who have a drug dependency.

I'd be willing to go for forced, prison-like rehab for crack users. Anything remotely voluntary will NOT work. People need to be forced into rehab and be confined. The dealers need and should stay in la prision for LIFE for all I care.

Originally Posted by ayannaaaliyah

This is not about releasing crack dealers and crack addicts. This proposal reform is about the sentencing guidelines for crack vs. powder cocaine

You need powder cocaine to make crack - so which is worse and which deserves the harsher penalty Neither is worse than the other, they are both equally bad. You can't have the latter without having powder cocaine, therefore possession of either should carry the same sentence.

An illegal drug is just that, "illegal" no matter what way you want to dress it up.

The two drugs come out of the same product, BUT crack users are VIOLENT and that is why crack is way worse and that is why we punish crack dealers more harshly than coke dealers. I want them both in prison for many, many many years, but crack is definitely worse.

Originally Posted by GregW

I suggest we release them and provide for free all the high purity crack they can use and a little more. Then the problems become self limiting. There are not a lot of elderly crack addicts around. This would be the cheapest solution possible.

Originally Posted by stlsteved

Crack is Back!!

It will be even worse when these idiots release the crack dealers from prison.


Guys, I think the bottom line is: if we free even the users early, crime will go up, people will be robbed and killed because the crack users do that. Think about it!


Here is another though: why can't we INCREASE the penalty for coke dealers, instead of lower crack penalties???

[TXboomerang]

Well maybe the better solution than reducing the sentences on crack is to RAISE the sentence on powder coke to be even more harsh than that of crack.

If you sell powder coke, you are selling both a usable drug AND the primary component of crack, in effect a 2 for 1.

I'm all for crack and powder coke carrying the same penalties. I don't think there was a racist intent initially with crack sentences being so harsh, because the amount of violence and theft associated with its use prompted the outrage by EVERYONE, including black community leaders to demand something serious be done to stop the problem.

In the end though, we should realize that no one would ever have CRACK without first having POWDER COKE. So powder coke is every bit as dangerous as crack because IT IS CRACK.

[ayannaaaliyah]

Originally Posted by tnbound2day

Well maybe the better solution than reducing the sentences on crack is to RAISE the sentence on powder coke to be even more harsh than that of crack.

If you sell powder coke, you are selling both a usable drug AND the primary component of crack, in effect a 2 for 1.

In the end though, we should realize that no one would ever have CRACK without first having POWDER COKE. So powder coke is every bit as dangerous as crack because IT IS CRACK.

Exactly what I said It's all the same no matter how you dress it up

I would also add to the OP, you should understand facts before making such bold statements about crack addicts killing for a hit. This is a myth and I believe I posted some research in another thread on this subject. Search for it, you'd be surprised to find the results.

The bottom line is as I've said and as tnbound has stated maybe the answer is to raise the powder penalty to equal that of crack.