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Lit_Match

False values to blame for ineffective drug policy
12.08.06|Norwich Bulletin

"War on Terror."

Cliff Thornton, the recent Green Party candidate for governor, is a man of commendable substance and character. One of his seminal comments during the campaign was "We've got to understand that the drug war is meant to be waged, not won."

Others have said much the same about the war on terror, and all are right, but the election showed the public might at least have caught the drift about terrorism. Not so about drugs. Voters still seem ready to punish politicians who seem to be "soft."

This faulty faith in an incarceration ideology, promoted especially by the prison-industrial complex, is painfully damaging to society.

Take Hartford. New research has found one child in six there has a parent in jail. Very few of these got sentenced for stock fraud or embezzlement. White-collar criminals are from the suburbs, and mostly they just get fines and probation. The heavy sentences are reserved for drugs and related crimes. Indeed, there exists a kind of puritanical belief those of us who maintain freedom from such substances will vouchsafe a place for ourselves in heaven, as long as we persecute those who have fallen.
Alcohol exemption

Fortunately, our own purity is not considered smirched by occasional recourse to alcohol. This distinction between the two substances was clarified during the great temperance reformation in the 1930s. That's when Prohibition was finally repealed.

But while the glass of wine and the martini have long been welcomed back into the Kingdom of Heaven, not so the joint. Not even if you're deathly ill and cannabis is the only pharmaceutical that can bring relief. It carries the stigma of subsequent sin. Even baptism by incarceration cannot fully erase its stain.

The cost to society of this anti-drug religion has been enormous. And not just to hopeless junkies either. It' s racial too.

Drug laws purposely are drawn to punish blacks and Latinos with especial harshness. Not coincidentally, we also tie in restrictions on their right to vote. In some states, there is a lifetime prohibition.

Yes, there have been improvements. While our state still over-punishes for cocaine possession, at least it's now equal for blacks and whites. Penalties used to differ greatly for possession of crack cocaine (cheaper to buy) and the powder (expensive). Eleven states-not us-also allow medical marijuana use, though the feds are thrilled to jump in and arrest sufferers anyway. And California widely offers treatment instead of jail. Still, the drug war nationally continues to fuel crime syndicates, destroy families, and breed corruption here and in Mexico.

That's a heavy price to pay for a false religion.

Collins, a former state representative and former mayor of Norwalk, writes for MinutemanMedia. E-mail: mail@minutemanmedia.org.

 

SirSmokaALot

I'm surprised nobody have said anything to this because this is a pretty good read and an interesting article. Most of this article is pretty much what i thinking about other day. This whole anti drug thing definitely have made the crime haven espically for dealers because they have plenty of options to make profits off (mostly green). So legalizing most of these will definitely ripp these power right out of these stranger's hands and right into government's. I'd prefer to have government's regulated MJ as long as they offer variations which i know will happen once it gets legalized (if thats ever happen soon *prays*).

walstmonky

Well, the argument has been around forever. I'm pretty sure I heard it the first time in the late '70s. The really amazing thing is that it's readily rejected by the faithful. I've met people who have very little imagination and think hip hop gangsta wannabes slinging dope, standing on every corner would be the result of taxation and regulation (legalization really isn't a good word to use). They'll look you right in the eye and say this is different, this is drugs, not alcohol. Someday maybe people will realize that saying 'drugs and alcohol' is the same as saying 'food and hamburgers'.

kcbennie

The thing that gets me the most is how lopsided of a debate the whole thing is. The side debating in favor of regulation and taxation are blue in the face with facts, scientific evidence and public support. This side has a rebutal to every argument ever made against drug use. They have a good plan to, not only save the nation billions of wasted dollars, but to generate billions more in revenue while at the same time lowering crime. But the side that is in favor the drug war not only has no scientific or factual proof, but present bald-faced lies to support their arguments and this is acceptable. The worst part of it is that the American public sits around and accepts it. These facists just piss in our face and tell us it's raining and IT"S BEEN GOINIG ON THAT WAY FOR 30 OR 40 YEARS. This is about much more that the right to smoke a joint or grow a plant. This about our own government, that we elected and gave jobs to, lying to our face and doing whatever the hell they want, and the entire population of the United States (not just the stoners) sit imobilized and say "Well that makes sense." Well it doesn't make sense. I am in know way a genius, but I'm definitely not an idiot either. I can't allow myself to belive that the majority of our population is uneducated enough to not even know that we have the right and the power stand up against the attrocities that have been forced upon us as a society. I have to tell myself that the time will come when we will again live in a society where the cheaters never win, liers never prosper and the truth will set you free.