The End of the War on Drugs

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deleted15807

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Is the useless expensive "War on Drugs" nearing an end?

Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. is set to announce Monday that low-level, nonviolent drug offenders with no ties to gangs or large-scale drug organizations will no longer be charged with offenses that impose severe mandatory sentences.

The new Justice Department policy is part of a comprehensive prison reform package that Holder will reveal in a speech to the American Bar Association in San Francisco, according to senior department officials. He is also expected to introduce a policy to reduce sentences for elderly, nonviolent inmates and find alternatives to prison for nonviolent criminals.

Holder seeks to avert mandatory minimum sentences for some low-level drug offenders
 

redneckgymrat

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Is the useless expensive "War on Drugs" nearing an end?

Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. is set to announce Monday that low-level, nonviolent drug offenders with no ties to gangs or large-scale drug organizations will no longer be charged with offenses that impose severe mandatory sentences.[/URL][/B]


While I agree with this position, as the War on Drugs is a misguided bunch of nonsense...I disagree that it is his place to decide.

His responsibility is to uphold the law of the land. Whether he agrees with that law is immaterial to his function.
 
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deleted15807

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^ The role of the attorney general does include giving advice and opinions. Additionally one can argue that the role of the judge has been usurped by mandatory sentencing which in my opinion should not be the case.
 

cruztbone

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for those of who posting on this topic, most of you dont realize what a SEA CHANGE this is in official US policy. this policy had been in effect since the Johnson Administration of the mid 1960's.

Obama and Holder are on the right path. lets encourage them to move forward.

Sargon is correct, this may be the end of the relentessly stupid and expensive war on drugs.

send an email to Obama and one to Holder thanking them for the change and suggesting more needed to be done.
 

vince

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The prison industry is not not going to like this. Mandatory sentencing for low-level crimes has made the prison business a recession-proof growth industry for at least thirty years.

In the early 90's helped build a $5m yacht for two brothers who had contracts to supply food to prisons throughout N.E. United States. They were literally laughing about how they'd found a pot of gold. Of course later they were convicted on racketeering and corruption charges and I heard they did a little time in a country club jail.
 

Klingsor

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In the early 90's helped build a $5m yacht for two brothers who had contracts to supply food to prisons throughout N.E. United States. They were literally laughing about how they'd found a pot of gold. Of course later they were convicted on racketeering and corruption charges and I heard they did a little time in a country club jail.

Yes, but no doubt it was high-quality food.
 

docdeath

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This country's Bogus war on drugs is laughable. The fact the government has made marijuana a class 1 drug is proof of that. They are trying to tell us pot is more harmful than cocaine, heroin or any other opiate-based drug and that it is a gateway drug leading to the others, all without a shred of proof, or scientific study.
If it was such a terrible thing, why have numerous other civilized countries around the world decriminalized the substance?
Could it be because it's a threat to the "legal" liquor manufacturers, or the pharmaceutical manufacturers, who rake in obscene profits and lobby against legalization of pot?
The government hasn't even funded a single study for possible medical marijuana use. I wonder why and who is against it so vehemently.
I think part of the reason is that because it's a plant, no single corporate entity could ever patent the seeds, or regulate the growth of plants, so they could not profit obscenely from marketing it. The end user could easily grow their own, tweak the plants until they obtain the desired potency they desire, produce some plants with seeds, then , become totally self-sustaining.
I think THAT'S what the government is afraid of, losing TAX revenue! So they just blanket the entire country with extreme laws, in a lame attempt to discourage anyone from growing their own, so they can't cheat the government out of their perceived share of revenue.
I believe even George Washington grew weed, along with several signers of the Declaration of independence. Back then, it was called Hemp. They also distilled their own whiskey. Tax-free, of course!
We no longer need this losing war on drugs. All it does is waste our tax dollars and needlessly fills prisons with non-violent "offenders".
 
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malakos

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They are trying to tell us pot is more harmful than cocaine, heroin or any other opiate-based drug and that it is a gateway drug leading to the others, all without a shred of proof, or scientific study.

Actually, the differences between the classes of controlled substances are not always a matter of degree of harmfulness. It is sometimes only a difference of whether they are deemed medically useful or not.
 

docdeath

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Actually, the differences between the classes of controlled substances are not always a matter of degree of harmfulness. It is sometimes only a difference of whether they are deemed medically useful or not.

It was DICK Nixon who demonized pot because of the "hippy-type freaks" protesting the war in viet-nam.
I believe it was he who began the war on drugs.
If our government had spent any money on researching the medical qualities of pot, I have no doubt it would be widely used today in a medicinal capacity. I also believe it would be decriminalized.
With our government's never ending anti-pot propaganda campaign, it seems that negative view is the only version the media in this country broadcasts. The citizens of this country deserve better. Let scientists do some real research into its characteristics to determine its real potential.
It has recently been shown to ease the effects of chemotherapy in cancer patients. It eases the symptoms of glaucoma. It also helps those who suffer from persistent pain.
I say we need real scientists giving it a real chance.
 
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deleted15807

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Good for him. But how many "low-level, nonviolent drug offenders" have federal charges?

......

...the immediate impact will be very limited at best, federal inmates accounted for just 14 percent of the nation’s 1.6 million prisoners last year.

For lasting national impact we need to look at the states, where most criminal defendants are sentenced. Over the past few years, a quiet revolution has been brewing in state capitals. Historically low crime rates and shrinking state coffers have led to a nascent consensus among lawmakers and advocates across the ideological spectrum that our addiction to incarceration is not sustainable, effective or humane. Republican governors in cash-strapped states have been among those leading the charge. States as varied as Texas, New York, Colorado and Michigan have passed reforms that have stabilized or significantly reduced prison populations without increasing crime.

 
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deleted15807

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The prison industry is not not going to like this. Mandatory sentencing for low-level crimes has made the prison business a recession-proof growth industry for at least thirty years.

In the early 90's helped build a $5m yacht for two brothers who had contracts to supply food to prisons throughout N.E. United States. They were literally laughing about how they'd found a pot of gold. Of course later they were convicted on racketeering and corruption charges and I heard they did a little time in a country club jail.

Pretty depressing link though not a surprise. Behind every 'war' is someone in the shadows ready for the hen to lay the golden egg away from prying public eyes.

Through involvement in the leadership of ALEC (American Legislative Exchange Council), private prison companies have played a key role in lobbying for and passing harsher sentencing for non-violent offenses including three-strike laws, mandatory sentencing, and truth-in-sentencing. They are also behind the recent spate of anti-immigrant state laws that are putting more and more immigrants behind bars -- the new profit center for the prison industrial complex.

Private companies promoting harsher sentencing all for money. It isn't even about crime and punishment anymore. It's about money. Period. Private industry generates profit as lives are destroyed in the process.


Inmate Count in U.S. Dwarfs Other Nations’
 

9inchRick

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Good for him. But how many "low-level, nonviolent drug offenders" have federal charges?

More than you think. Ask the 'legal' pot growers in California. The Feds can and have busted people I know. Their grows were perfectly legal in the eyes of the California state laws but the Feds had the power to go in if they wanted and bust up ANY legal grower they wanted. I believe there was a bill that recently passed that prevents the Federal government and the DEA from arresting legal pot growers, now , so that is good.

Sadly, those are laws that actually work.
Yeah, violating people rights to catch petty criminals works :rolleyes:
If you agree with 'stop and frisk' would you be okay with the government coming into your home and doing random searches? It's not much different from 'stop and frisk' they're just doing it to your house... I'm sure if the police went around randomly searching people's houses they'd catch criminals too. So it 'works' right?

Profiling people based on their race and fishing for evidence is unconstitutional. It seems like something the Gestapo or KGB would do. We have rights in America and that includes criminals. I disagree with the police harassment that is 'stop and frisk.' It may catch some criminals but it seems like a huge waste of police resources to me, not to mention, unconstitutional. Law enforcement has no business harassing you without some sort of probable cause. They shouldn't be able to frisk people because they're black/latino/Arabic/Asian/etc. and may look like 'they're up to no good.'
If you let the government continue to do things like this, they will continue to stretch and abuse their power, to the point where they are terrorizing citizens of their country in order to 'protect it' which they are already doing.
 
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vince

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Maybe American police, prosecutors and judges are doing their jobs more effectively then their counterparts in other countries? The incarceration rate per 100,000 is seven times that of your northern neighbor. The Mounties need to get their man a little more often! (sounds gay eh?)
 

FuzzyKen

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I think that what we have had now for decades has been a dismal failure on a level so monumental that it defies description. The problem is that what was intended has appeared to have an end result that was nearly the opposite.

I do believe that things need to change, but I do not have the answer as to specifically what that change needs to be. I hope that this is a beginning on some level.
 
D

deleted15807

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I think that what we have had now for decades has been a dismal failure on a level so monumental that it defies description. The problem is that what was intended has appeared to have an end result that was nearly the opposite.

I do believe that things need to change, but I do not have the answer as to specifically what that change needs to be. I hope that this is a beginning on some level.

Indeed any illegal drug you want is readily available and is as cheap as ever. Irrefutable proof the failure of the so-called 'War on Drugs'. Though I believe it was more of a political campaign than a real issue that needed addressing.