Apparently, our region’s prisons are running out of space:
Starting in 2012, King County plans to no longer house most drunken drivers, prostitutes, small-scale drug users and other misdemeanor offenders, prompting cities south and east of Seattle to start planning to build new jails in their communities.
Officials in Snohomish, Pierce and Spokane counties may follow suit and keep misdemeanor offenders from being booked into their main county jails. Although King County’s two jails in Seattle and Kent still have room for offenders, projections show the jails reaching full capacity in about a decade.
The region’s cities currently contract with the counties to house many of their misdemeanor offenders, but will soon be faced with the expense of building more jail space of their own. Or… perhaps we might want to consider not locking up misdemeanor, nonviolent drug offenders?
Whatever you think about the dangers of illicit drug use, few would argue that the “war on drugs” is working. Drug use is primarily a public health issue, not a criminal one, and studies show that it would be much more effective and less expensive to treat it as such. And apart from the obvious ill effects of smoking, there is little science to suggest that casual marijuana use is any more dangerous to the individual or society than casual drinking.
Cities pay King County $197.23 for each misdemeanor inmate booked into the jail, plus $103.17 per inmate, per day; drug treatment, by comparison, is a relative bargain. Throughout the state, over 70-percent of each county’s general fund is spent on their criminal justice system, and politicians who have made a career of railing against high taxes and wasteful government spending, are also typically the first to demand a “tough on crime,” “lock ’em up and throw away the key” approach to all sorts of social ills, real and perceived.
But if prison overcrowding is an issue of both supply and demand, it might behoove us as a society to examine both sides of the equation.
We are making smoking cigarettes illegal in many cities but drug use should be legal. Only to a liberal would that make sense.
We are making smoking cigarettes illegal in many cities
WHAT BULLCRAP! THE NICOTINE FIEND WHO PREFERS THEIR NICOTINE IN “CANCER STICK” FORM CAN FIND MANY PLACES TO SERVICE THEIR HABIT – JUST LIKE THE CRACK, POT, HEROIN, ETC VARIETIES OF FIENDS.
Prisons are filling up and running out of space. Yet crime rates are going down.
http://www.metrokc.gov/sheriff.....index.aspx
Hhmm, I simply don’t know what to make of those stats. So confusing.
What complete bullshit…
http://seattletimes.nwsource.c.....ies22.html
What part about “Bush” and “Texas” don’t they get?
What part about “Cheney” and “Halliburton” don’t they get?
Mechancial breakdowns… gimme a fucking break…
Hey Loocy – Did I get it right?
Puking in here now, Mark?
Just look forward to how much better your life will be when the Democrats are in control. Think Hillary, Mark, it will have a calming effect, I’m sure.
And have a lovely day.
Must be “over crowded prison day” in the area’s newspapers.
Is it time to build another jail? — Tacoma News Tribune
Must be prison lobby week in these parts.
re4 : Depends. What are you trying to say?
B.F. Skinner proved that punishment alone isn’t enough to extinguish negative behavior. If a person receives occasional rewards, either real or perceived, from the negative behavior, that behavior will continue, despite any punishment meted out.
A system of rewards for positive behavior works much better than punishment. Being a real man, MTR, involves using your mind as well as your passion. You seem not to lack blind passion for simplistic solutions to complex problems.
That may get demogogues elected, but our societal problems never gett solved.
@6
The most current Democrat talking points memo must have been circulated.
Hey Loocy – Is prison like checkers?
#3 punks liberals and no one notices or no one can blame bush so they have nothing to say in rebuttal. Hilarious!!
Cities pay King County $197.23 for each misdemeanor inmate booked into the jail, plus $103.17 per inmate, per day; drug treatment, by comparison, is a relative bargain. Throughout the state, over 70-percent of each county’s general fund is spent on their criminal justice system, and politicians who have made a career of railing against high taxes and wasteful government spending, are also typically the first to demand a “tough on crime,” “lock ‘em up and throw away the key” approach to all sorts of social ills, real and perceived.
Goldy you could cut your cost by out sourcing the jails, guards, and the criminals to Mexico or Cuba. Have the Human rights groups monitor thier proper care and Lucy’s method of loving your con. Then when they have finished serving their time return them to Boston to serve out their probation. With all that East Coast Love they will turn out to be outstanding Social Democrats. What a bargain for the Tax payers and the city of Boston. Now you can boast that you have no Blacks or Hispanics in your jail system. They will now be in some bodies else’s back yard. True NIMBY’s!
“A system of rewards for positive behavior works much better than punishment. Being a real man, MTR, involves using your mind as well as your passion. You seem not to lack blind passion for simplistic solutions to complex problems.”
The real driving factor on this problem is that Mr. Sims is tired of locking up his brothers from the hood. Now he can use Lucy’s method of rehabbing his brothers and make money on all that pot they are growing in King County.
Remember this is Ron Sims mo for fixing problems in King County out source the responsibility onto another city department. Then keep the tax funds so he can keep his budgets in the plus. That is what he did with the parks and swimming pools a few years back. The local city had to ask for more funding to keep them a float. Now he is buying up all the rail properties for his bike and walking trails to keep his fat friends healthy. Wouldn’t want to convert them into a monorail type of transportation to serve the public poor and the educate illiterates.
NOW the real problem is the state is run by uncontrolled Democrats and still can’t solve our problems. Now what’s left in this State is to replace them and where do you find literate voters that can make good judgment calls?
OH I FORGOT:
Roger is the Minister for Public Enlightenment and Propaganda for the Socialist Democrats Party today just like Paul Joseph Goebbels was in Hitler Germany. His Nazi friends taught him the trade when he visited them in jail.
If the publicans have their way, there will only be two kinds of people – those who work at prison and those who live there. And they say they are for less government – yeah right.
Goldy — this has nothing to do with the “war on drugs”. Marijuana is about the only drug offense that is a misdemeanor, and only a very small percentage of the misdemeanor offenders are in there because of marijuana.
Two of the biggest reasons for misdemeanor jail space are traffic offenses (especially drunk driving) and misdemeanor assaults (especially domestic violence).
Most drunk drivers and domestic abusers are given an option for treatment on their first offense. Typically, a first offender can spend just a day in jail (drunk driving) or no time at all (domestic abuse), if they comply with treatment.
So the reason these folks are in jail for drunk driving or domestic abuse is almost always because they are repeat offenders or have failed to comply with court-ordered treatment.
Painful as it is, I actually read some of Mr. Lake’s incoheirant ramblings. (I do wish that someone would introduce him to the concept of “paragraphs”.)
Ok, Mr. Lake proposes an alternate solution to the jail overcrowding, then he calls us NIMBYs based on his proposal that none of us would even consider.
Mr. Lake? While I agree that the answer you gave is pretty stupid, and anyone actually considered it could be called a NIMBY, please try to remember, it was your suggestion, not ours.
First, let me say it again. This was your suggestion, not ours. You may want to put words in our mouths, but we decline to allow it.
Next, the story you’re quoting is stating that King County may, indeed require the cities to house their own offenders. How, precisely, is that “out source(ing) the responsibility“? It is merely declining to take on the responsibilities of the cities.
Let me give you an example. You have a lawn, which you do not mow. For a while, I am willing to mow it for a fee, which you pay, and I mow your lawn.
Later, I decide that I have enough lawn of my own to mow, and tell you that you’ll just have to go buy your own mower, and tell you in advance when you’ll have to start mowing it yourself.
In that scenerio, by your reasoning, I would be “outsourcing” my responsibility. But it would still be your lawn, not mine.
The inmates that Mr. Sims is considering turning over to the cities come from the cities, and were arrested by city police.
As to the little racist bits about Mr. Sims supposed reasoning, well, despite what the space aliens beam into your brain in the middle of the night, I doubt that you have an inside track on the reasoning of Mr. Sims.
So, I would leave you with this little bit of advice. When making your tinfoil hat, remember, shiny side out, and when the voices start to tell you to hurt yourself or others, don’t wait for your regular session to tell the nice therapist.
For Goldy and Mr. Pope:
I’d be interested to see statistics about the percentage of folks in city or county lockup that were there for simple possession without intent to sell.
The TNT had a story this morning about the need to build another jail in Pierce County, but also noted that we aren’t using the current one to capacity because of staffing problems.
This left me with the question of why would we build another jail if we can’t come up with enough staff to operate the one we have? I’m wondering if Bechtel is going into the jail-building business.
re 10: Yes, MTR. Prison is not only like checkers. It is checkers.
re 11: Correlation doesn’t necessarily imply causation.
Goldy I’m really disappointed in you for not following up on your friend’s death. You dedicate your time on the web and radio show why all the silence? Goldy why doesn’t the rest of your friends help the poor on the street like Mike and Lucy?
Scott Brian White told radio talk-show host Mike Webb he was going out for a cigarette in the early morning hours of April 14. Instead, he told police, he reached under the bed the two shared, grabbed a double-edged ax he had stored there earlier and bludgeoned to death the man who had given him shelter.
Now why would a man who voted for the far left today be provoke to ax his lover before going out for a pack of cigarettes?
White, 28, was charged Friday with first-degree murder in Webb’s death and is being held on $1 million bail.
Now is the bail really necessary when he couldn’t even support himself on the street?
The slaying, which is described in court documents released Friday, ended what appeared to be a relationship that started when Webb invited the young man to share his home. White was a drifter who had lived on the street for years and had a history of drug use, according to his father.
Goldy why would being a drifter, drug use, living on the streets, and having a relationship provoke this kind of behavior? I don’t see being a drifter has anything to do with the murder! Living on the streets has nothing to do with the problem because your friends dump the mentally insane on the streets. Everybody that lives in Seattle has some problem with drugs but they don’t axe their supporter.
At the time, Webb worked as an Internet talk-show host. He drove a car loaned to him by one of the dealerships that advertised on his show. The car would become one of the keys in a trail linking White to Webb’s death.
That was awful kind that the dealership to loan him that car because if he was using a bicycle we would never have found his murder.
This past April, Webb called 911 to report that the loaned car had been stolen. White, who had missed picking Webb up from an appointment, was the last person known to drive the car. The incident apparently prompted Webb to mention to his friends that White had also taken money and other property from him.
Goldy did White kill Webb because he lost his only mode of transportation and he had to ride Metro to work? By the way some ladies also take money and property from their lovers but they don’t kill them.
White later admitted to Webb he’d taken the car and returned it, according to court documents.
Man those news paper jazzing up the story then changing then retracting the statement, Webb wasn’t killed because he had to ride mass transit.
A week later, on Friday, April 13, another friend of Webb’s took the radio host to the dentist. Webb was scheduled to have oral surgery on Tuesday of the following week.
Goldy why would the reporter let us know about his dentist appointment on Tuesday and how did that relate to his death?
Webb did his normal broadcast that Friday evening, but on Sunday, he missed a prearranged appointment with his friend and technical support person, Bob Vesely.
Now that could be the day that White went for those deadly cigarettes that may have provoke him to kill Webb?
Shortly after that, friends began receiving mysterious text messages sent from Webb’s phone. They contained uncharacteristic misspellings, and were signed “Mike” — something Webb was not known to do. Various messages mentioned Webb was leaving town, and some warned people not to come by the house, court documents say.
Does that mean that White was educated in the Seattle School District which was the real cause for him to be down on life and willing to take other?
Thinking it strange that Webb would text instead of call, his friend Jane Bengtson went by his house just after midnight on April 20. She told police she was met by a “panicked white male, with long dreadlocks.” She told police the man, who said he was at the house to see White and that Webb was not at home, seemed nervous and left immediately on foot. A few minutes later, Bengtson received a text message from Webb’s phone berating her for coming to Webb’s house uninvited.
Wow did she really meet the killer and was the dreadlocks on a white male the clue that he didn’t belong there in the house?
Webb was eventually reported missing on May 14, after friends and family realized none had talked to or seen Webb.
A property manager and his workers found Webb’s body June 28, stuffed in a crawl space, hidden behind boxes and bookshelves. An ax was found near the body, according to the charging papers.
Man you liberals really don’t keep close tabs on your friends when they are in trouble and report promptly when they come up missing.
The King County Medical Examiner’s Office determined that Webb had suffered stab wounds to the chest, neck and shoulder in addition to five “lengthy lacerations” across his face consistent with ax blows.
In addition to a blood-soaked mattress and blood spatter in the master bedroom, detectives found a gouge in the ceiling “that would be consistent with damage left by an ax.” The Seattle Police Department’s latent print lab recovered White’s bloody fingerprint from a dustpan believed to have been used to clean up the scene.
Jane Bengtson really should not be a Police Office if she missed that blood-soaked mattress and blood spatter in the master bedroom. Yep you Liberals do have selective hearing, seeing, and comprehension of subject matter.
White pawned several electronic items, including a Hewlett-Packard laptop owned by Webb. He also began using a government-issued credit card belonging to Webb. The card, known as an EBT card, is a means of issuing food stamps and other benefits. Video cameras at various stores captured White using the card.
Now that’s what I call a very dumb fellow not trying to avoided the death penalty but will get life for killing a poor chap trying to help him like Lucy.
Headless Lucy A system of rewards for positive behavior works much better than punishment. Being a real man, MTR, involves using your mind as well as your passion. You seem not to lack blind passion for simplistic solutions to complex problems.
On Wednesday, detectives, acting on a tip, found White at a transient camp in Trolley Hill Park on Queen Anne Hill.
White initially told police that he had left Webb’s house after returning the car to him, then returned a few days later to discover Webb missing. White said he stayed at Webb’s house several more weeks.
Confronted with evidence the police had gathered, White admitted killing Webb, then posing as Webb in text messages and e-mails. He also admitted he had tried to use Webb’s other credit cards, but could not get them to work.
WOW Goldy what a tragic story for a fun loving person who was down on life and tried to help another person with their problems end up drying such a way. Lets not forget that reporter who spun that story for the Seattle PI, Carol Smith can be reached at 206-448-8070 or carolsmith@seattlepi.com.
re20: Could you repeat that?
Hi John it so refreshing to read your snippets and twisted points of view that doesn’t change with time. By the way how many souls did you save since the last time we meet?
John Barelli says:
For Goldy and Mr. Pope:
I’d be interested to see statistics about the percentage of folks in city or county lockup that were there for simple possession without intent to sell.
Very little just ask any cop who works in Seattle, The only tickets that they can issue has to provide revenue for the city.
The TNT had a story this morning about the need to build another jail in Pierce County, but also noted that we aren’t using the current one to capacity because of staffing problems.
This left me with the question of why would we build another jail if we can’t come up with enough staff to operate the one we have? I’m wondering if Bechtel is going into the jail-building business.
No Reverent John they had some money left over and they put the bid out for the lowest bidder and you got what you voted for. You will not have any problem getting staff if you out source the jail to the Mexican government. Now the monster movers could move that jail to Mexico for a smaller fee that the Country could staff it with local Union employees.
John Barelli says:
Let me give you an example. You have a lawn, which you do not mow. For a while, I am willing to mow it for a fee, which you pay, and I mow your lawn.
Later, I decide that I have enough lawn of my own to mow, and tell you that you’ll just have to go buy your own mower, and tell you in advance when you’ll have to start mowing it yourself.
In that scenario, by your reasoning, I would be “outsourcing” my responsibility. But it would still be your lawn, not mine.
How kind of you to mow my lawn when I’m gone. My neighbor did that for me when I was in the Middle East and I returned him the favor when he was on vacation. Yes I did that for the Indians next door because they couldn’t get a permit to stake out goats in his front yard. You know one of those culture things, but real nice folks like you Democrats. Now you got to admit he did out source his problem, but you should always help your friends even if they act like yourself preaching daily. PS I spelled scenario correctly for you so feel free to correct my grammar. Thanks Chief Lake Ret.
Ah, Mr. Lake. On your first question, I do not know, as I don’t keep score. Hopefully, however, I have been able to counter the impression that the Republicans have tried so hard to give, which is that Christians are a bunch of intolerant hate-filled bigots.
As to the rest of your post.
Actually, I was looking for data, not talking points. While I realize that many of you right-wingers do not know the difference, the folks I asked (Goldy and Mr. Pope) do.
I quoted this simply because it is one of the finest pieces of gibberish that I have seen since the last time I watched “Blazing Saddles”. It is pure far-right opinion, completely and totally devoid of facts or information of any kind.
one of the finest pieces of gibberish that I have seen since the last time I watched “Blazing Saddles”.
THAT’S FLAKEY KLAKE FOR YOU. STREAMS OF GIBBERISH.
If Iraq is so bad, why does the Bush Administration have to repeatedly Lie to start a war?
1. Powell relies on FORGED documents to link Saddam to terror.
MSNBC: “They have been the closest of allies. But under the intense pressure of a diplomatic crisis at the United Nations and an imminent war in Iraq, the friendship between the United States and Britain is beginning to fray. The most recent strain emerged when U.N. nuclear inspectors concluded last week that U.S. and British claims about Iraq’s secret nuclear program were based on forged documents. The fake letters supposedly laid out how Iraqi agents had tried to purchase uranium from officials in Niger, central Africa.”
MORE: http://www.msnbc.com/news/883164.asp?cp1=1
CNN: WASHINGTON (CNN) — Intelligence documents that U.S. and British governments said were strong evidence that Iraq was developing nuclear weapons have been dismissed as forgeries by U.N. weapons inspectors.
MORE: http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/03/.....index.html
Sydney Morning Herald, Australia: The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Mohamed ElBaradei, has demonstrated that UK and US intelligence authorities relied on forged documents to support assertions that Iraq was trying to buy uranium in Africa.
MORE: http://www.smh.com.au/articles.....40556.html
LA Times: WASHINGTON — Phony weapons documents cited by the United States and Britain as evidence against Saddam Hussein were initially obtained by Italian intelligence authorities, who may have been duped into paying for the forgeries, U.S. officials said Friday. The documents, which purport to show Iraqi efforts to acquire uranium from Niger, were exposed as fraudulent by U.N. weapons inspectors last week. The matter has embarrassed U.S. and British officials.
MORE: http://www.latimes.com/la-fg-d.....6930.story
And even more:
http://news.google.com/news?hl.....+documents
* * *
2. Bush/Powell’s UN “evidence” relies on even MORE supposedly “up to date” FORGED documents to link Saddam to terror.
CNN: Large chunks of the 19-page report — highlighted by U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell at the U.N. as a ” fine paper … which describes in exquisite detail Iraqi deception activities” — contains large chunks lifted from other sources, according to several academics. ” The British government’s dossier is 19 pages long and most of pages 6 to 16 are copied directly from that document word for word, even the grammatical errors and typographical mistakes,” Rangwala said. Al-Marashi’s article, published last September, was based on information obtained at the time of the 1991 Gulf War, Rangwala said. ” The information he was using is 12 years old and he acknowledges this in his article. The British government, when it transplants that information into its own dossier, does not make that acknowledgement. ” So it is presented as current information about Iraq, when really the information it is using is 12 years old.”
MORE: http://asia.cnn.com/2003/WORLD.....k.dossier/
UK Guardian: Downing Street was last night plunged into acute international embarrassment after it emerged that large parts of the British government’s latest dossier on Iraq – allegedly based on “intelligence material” – were taken from published academic articles, some of them several years old. Amid charges of “scandalous” plagiarism on the night when Tony Blair attempted to rally support for the US-led campaign against Saddam Hussein, Whitehall’s dismay was compounded by the knowledge that the disputed document was singled out for praise by the US secretary of state, Colin Powell, in his speech to the UN security council on Wednesday.
MORE: http://politics.guardian.co.uk.....69,00.html
http://education.guardian.co.u.....62,00.html
http://iafrica.com/news/worldnews/207939.htm
===========================
3. Bush/Powell tries to use edited audio-tape to LIE about Saddam/Bin Laden Connection.
NY Times: It offered little evidence of an alliance between Mr. Hussein and Mr. bin Laden, but it did seem to validate Arab leaders’ warnings that Islamic extremists would exploit any assault on Baghdad to further inflame the region.
MORE: http://www.nytimes.com/2003/02.....2TAPE.html
NY Times: Germany dismissed Wednesday U.S. claims that a new audiotape purportedly by Osama bin Laden proved he was in league with Iraq, while some Muslims were cheered by the possibility the accused mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks was still alive.
More: Article Link
Philadelphia Daily News: But if bin Laden was trying to show personal solidarity with Saddam himself, he had a strange way of doing so. He denounced Saddam’s secular, socialist al-Baath party as “infidels.” What’s more, the statement said that Iraq’s rulers had “lost their credibility long ago” and that “socialists are infidels wherever they are.” He didn’t even mention Saddam by name.
MORE: http://www.philly.com/mld/dailynews/5157847.htm
Salon.com: War, lies and audiotape If truth is the first casualty of war, then this war’s second casualty is the credibility of Colin Powell. Yesterday morning he insisted that the new tape from Osama bin Laden would show a “partnership” between al-Qaida and Iraq. He told the nation that he had a transcript of bin Laden’s remarks. Understandably, however, the secretary of state didn’t read from the transcript he claimed to have in his possession — because it so clearly contradicted the headlines he was trying to create.
MORE: http://www.salon.com/opinion/c.....ex_np.html
* * *
4. Bush/Powell LIES again about Saddam’s ability to deliver weapons of mass destruction.
News Interactive: An Iraqi drone found by UN weapons inspectors is of “very primitive” design and is definitely not capable of flying 500km as suggested by US Secretary of State Colin Powell, Jane’s Defence Weekly said today.
On February 5, Powell told the UN Security Council that the Iraqis possessed a drone that could fly 500km, violating UN rules that limit the range of Iraqi weapons to 150km. ” There is no possibility that the design shown on 12 March has the capability to fly anywhere near 500 kilometres,” drones expert Ken Munson said on Jane’s website (http://jdw.janes.com). ” The design looks very primitive, and the engines — which have their pistons exposed — appear to be low-powered,” he said.
MORE: Article Link
Originally from the NY Times: AL TAJI, Iraq — To hear senior Bush administration officials tell it, Iraq’s latest pilotless drone has the potential to be one of Saddam Hussein’s deadliest weapons, able to deliver terrifying payloads of chemical and biological warfare agents across Iraq’s borders to Israel or other neighboring states. It could even, they say, be broken down and smuggled into the United States for use in terrorist attacks. But viewed up close yesterday by reporters hastened by Iraqi officials to the Ibn Firnas weapons plant outside Baghdad, the vehicle the Iraqis have code-named RPV-30A, for remotely piloted vehicle, looked more like something out of the Rube Goldberg museum of aeronautical design than anything that could threaten Iraq’s foes. To the layman’s eye, the unveiling of the Iraqi prototype seemed to lend the crisis over Iraq’s weapons an aura less of deadly threat than of farce.
“In any case, he and other officials said, the vehicle could not be controlled from a distance of more than 5 miles, in good weather, since its controllers tracked it “with the naked eye.”
MORE: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/.....ne13.shtml
Boston Globe: Duct tape reinforced by aluminum foil held together the black and white drone’s balsa wood wings. The wooden propellers and tiny engines were fastened to a well-worn fuselage, fashioned from the fuel tank of a larger aircraft. The words ”God is Great” were hand painted in red ink on both sides. Perched on a sawhorse at a military research base 20 miles north of Baghdad, the drone looked more like a large school science project than a vehicle capable of delivering chemical and biological weapons. Iraqi officials denied the airplane had any strategic use.
More: Article Link
* * *
5. Bush/Powell LIE about Iraq’s Nuclear capabilities concerning “aluminum tubes”:
ABC News: Before Congress, and in public, President Bush and Secretary of State Colin Powell have repeatedly pointed to aluminum tubes imported by Iraq which they say are for use in making nuclear weapons. But on Friday, head United Nations nuclear inspector Mohammad ElBaradei told the Security Council that it wasn’t likely that the tubes were for that use. ElBaradei also said that documents Bush had cited and relied upon to make the case that Iraq tried to buy uranium from a country in central Africa were fake.
More: http://abcnews.go.com/sections.....dence.html
Washington Post: The finding: Iraq had tried to buy thousands of high-strength aluminum tubes, which Bush said were “used to enrich uranium for a nuclear weapon.” But according to government officials and weapons experts, the claim now appears to be seriously in doubt. After weeks of investigation, U.N. weapons inspectors in Iraq are increasingly confident that the aluminum tubes were never meant for enriching uranium, according to officials familiar with the inspection process. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the U.N.-chartered nuclear watchdog, reported in a Jan. 8 preliminary assessment that the tubes were “not directly suitable” for uranium enrichment
If prostitution and simple posession weren’t criminalized, there wouldn’t be a need to build new prisons. And since tobacco kills more people in a day than marijuana has in recorded history, why is tobacco legal at all?
Two things. First, the drug problem is not primarily a public health issue – the vast majority of property crimes and crimes against persons are committed by defendants who are either high on drugs or looking to steal something they can sell for drugs. This makes the drug problem a criminal problem. Second, Drug Court is a huge expense for a very limited success rate. The primary indicator of whether a drug addict will do well in treatment is whether they are motivated to change. Most addicts have no interest in changing. It is a huge waste of resources and time to put someone in treatment who doesn’t want to be there. Until an addict reaches the point of wanting help, jail is the best alternative to keep the public safe from their criminal activity. Anyone who has walked through the Courthouse park late at night after a Mariners game can appreciate this.
But think of this:
By taxing and regulating marijuana, the monies collected could go to addiction counseling and treatment, which as mentioned previously, is far cheaper than incarceration. And legalized prostitution in the outlying counties here in Nevada has been proven to just about as safe as sex can be with more than one person involved.
Face it, you knew the whole War on Drugs was a complete scam when Nancy Reagan can say something in complete contradiction to known medical science, namely that marijuana was addictive something that research had proven otherwise nearly a century ago. The shameful thing is that most people were naive enough to believe her.
NOTE: While I am for the complete legalization of marijuana, that doesn’t suggest that I think all drugs should be legalized. However, I believe that simple possession of small amounts should be okay. Possession with intent to sell is another matter altogether. Going after the victims (i.e., users) of illegal drugs is the lazy man’s way of getting drugs off the streets.
Since most of my peeps are in these jail cells with low level charges, I like letting these peeps going back into their hovels smoking their ganga and nailing serious criminals. I am not for the decriminalization of ganga, but don’t cops have more inportant activities like making sure the chief of police doesn’t get his weapon stolen?
Hey taking the lib tack “No harm no foul”!
@27
All of the problems you describe there can be fixed by treating drug abuse as a public health rather than criminal problem. If you fund clinics where doctors can provide maintenance treatment for addicts, they will no longer need to steal to support their habits (and studies have shown that this approach works much better than jail for getting people into rehab). It also does a lot to keep addicts out of public spaces, like city parks. Also, in the long term, in places where they’ve done things like this, like Zurich, the numbers of new users of addictive drugs have plummeted.
Self righteous fundy conservatives (pushing around sapphire thrones or not)get no satisfaction in correcting behaviors without punishment, so it’ll never fly.