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I will never understand the simpletons who say things like 'oh, yeah well he/she knew weed is illegal so I have no sympathy for their life sentence.'
Watch, someone will say 'yeah, well, until the law changes you should always follow it is infallible!!1!1!!!! Everything is black and white in this world!!!,11!!'
Unjust laws aren't changed unless people fight to get them changed. The fight against drugs, especially against pot, has been an expensive waste of time for decades. I just despair at folks who say, "oh caught three times with pot, life sentence huh? Serves him right." I wouldn't mind, but the very people tut tutting, are the ones paying the taxes that cover the cost to lock such people up.
Private prisons with contracts promising them plenty of product........ it is just madness. Surely, the country with the highest jail incarceration rates in the world, should take a long look at such laws?
Unjust laws aren't changed unless people fight to get them changed. The fight against drugs, especially against pot, has been an expensive waste of time for decades. I just despair at folks who say, "oh caught three times with pot, life sentence huh? Serves him right." I wouldn't mind, but the very people tut tutting, are the ones paying the taxes that cover the cost to lock such people up.
Private prisons with contracts promising them plenty of product........ it is just madness. Surely, the country with the highest jail incarceration rates in the world, should take a long look at such laws?
The total cost of corrections annually in the United States is between $80 and $100 Billion dollars, and costs are increasing year over year. 1 of every 33 adults in the United States is currently under some form of correctional supervision (which isn't limited to just those physically sitting in prison). Half of all inmates are nonviolent offenders and one third of all inmates are incarcerated on drug charges, with a sizable percentage of those receiving drug charges receiving such charges for simple possession only. Multiple studies have shown that treatment, rather than incarceration, tends to yield both substantial cost savings and community benefits. As such, one has to wonder why the government (and their corporate co-conspirators) are typically acting against the better interests of the average taxpayer.
The total cost of corrections annually in the United States is between $80 and $100 Billion dollars, and costs are increasing year over year. 1 of every 33 adults in the United States is currently under some form of correctional supervision (which isn't limited to just those physically sitting in prison). Half of all inmates are nonviolent offenders and one third of all inmates are incarcerated on drug charges, with a sizable percentage of those receiving drug charges receiving such charges for simple possession only. Multiple studies have shown that treatment, rather than incarceration, tends to yield both substantial cost savings and community benefits. As such, one has to wonder why the government (and their corporate co-conspirators) are typically acting against the better interests of the average taxpayer.
It is madness. A higher percentage of the population in the 'land of the free' than anywhere else in the world. Many locked up for non violent drug offences. Folks come in threads like this with no sympathy. "Shouldn't break the law...... serves 'em right." Anti-drugs laws aren't working. The answer the authorities seem to think, and sadly a lot of the US population seems to be, "well, lock even more up until they obey the law."
Well, the authorities keep locking people up, and ruining many folk's future lives. Many unable to find work because of their police record. Yet, no one seems to say "look, enough. We have to try something different, because what we have been doing for decades just isn't working." Nope, just more of the same.
What I find curious, and have never heard a believable explanation for, is after an invasion of Afghanistan, the biggest producer of heroin in the world, why have the fields of poppies not been destroyed? This country continues to be the world exporter of heroin. Why is this?
We get the same old propaganda about drugs. Vicious turf wars over supply. Same old "lock 'em up, and throw away the key." When will this lost war against drugs be accepted, and a different, cheaper, way tried? If what we're doing now was working, I would say ok, carry on, victory is in sight. Well it isn't, and it's time we admitted it.
While I believe that prisons should open up the doors and let all pot cases go (not including more complex cases), a guy getting caught DEALING 3 times, knowing what was coming...its not tugging at my heart strings. There are people who have much worse situations in the legal system. So if I'm going to be up in arms, I'm guessing my passions would go towards that. There is too much injustice and unfairness in the legal system to feel super bad about a guy who just needed to find a new line of (legal) business.
We don't have to agree with the laws, but if we want not to have our butts thrown in prison, we have to do our best to follow them. Too many people are being thrown in for things they didn't actually do, or situations that were mostly out of their control. Not to mention the huge racial issues in how we apply the laws.
Unjust laws aren't changed unless people fight to get them changed. The fight against drugs, especially against pot, has been an expensive waste of time for decades.
maybe for you, but not for the people that fight to keep those laws in place. those police officers, corrections officers, judges, lawyers, etc. fight hard whenever legalization is brought up. for them, its a big money maker/job creator.
maybe for you, but not for the people that fight to keep those laws in place. those police officers, corrections officers, judges, lawyers, etc. fight hard whenever legalization is brought up. for them, its a big money maker/job creator.
...... and that's part of the problem. The war against drugs has been going on for many decades. During that time, many people have got good paying jobs from that so called war. With the frustration of being unable to stamp out illegal drug use, authorities all over the world have increased jail sentences.
Governments have painted themselves into a corner, and can't see a way out of this foolishness. I believe if they could find a way to legalize all drugs they would, then tax them. The authorities would then become the drug dealers. They see the billions in profits being made from illegal drugs, and would love to get their hands on that. It's just the question of how to do it.
A bonus would be the end of turf wars, and all the killings from that. Our jails are clogged with drug users, many non violent offenders. Anybody who thinks seriously about this, must see the absurdity of it. Jail should foremost be for violent criminals, and there sure are plenty of them.
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