Want to Reform the Criminal Justice
System? End the Drug War.
Creators,
by
John Stossel
Original Article
Posted By: zoidberg,
7/1/2020 8:50:27 AM
Protesters say America's criminal justice system is unfair. It is. Courts are so jammed that innocent people plead guilty to avoid waiting years for a trial. Lawyers help rich people get special treatment. A jail stay is just as likely to teach you crime as it is to help you get a new start. Overcrowded prisons cost a fortune and increase suffering for both prisoners and guards. There's one simple solution to most of these problems: End the war on drugs. Our government has spent trillions of dollars trying to stop drug use. It hasn't worked.
Reply 1 - Posted by:
Strike3 7/1/2020 9:23:21 AM (No. 462888)
Legalizing drugs would stop most of the gang shootings and cripple the Mexican economy but the death count would make coronavirus look like a tummy ache. Blacks affected disproportionately. Imagine if they had unrestricted access to drugs - there is that annoying problem of addiction that destroys ambition and thinking ability and our young people are already deficient in that area. There would be fewer shooting victims but OD cases would be delivered to morgues every day by the thousands. Yes, it would clear out the prisons but it would heavily populate the graveyards.
10 people like this.
Reply 2 - Posted by:
JackBurton 7/1/2020 9:24:19 AM (No. 462889)
How about eliminating murder as a crime?
Do people think before they write stuff?
9 people like this.
Reply 3 - Posted by:
Hugh Akston 7/1/2020 9:29:37 AM (No. 462897)
How about jails were used for non-violent criminals, kind of a 'time out' to get their minds right, and violent criminals were given an extended stay under the jails instead of being put back on the street.
4 people like this.
Reply 4 - Posted by:
seamusm 7/1/2020 9:29:47 AM (No. 462898)
I could not agree more. Criminalizing drug use and possession has destroyed the inner city and left our minorities with prison records and largely unemployable. We on the right hated Obama for his picking winners and losers in the energy and other sectors in our economy. Aren't the drug wars the same when we give more harsh sentencing for ghetto drugs as compared to the same chemical (cocaine) when used by the wealthy? And haven't we also done the same when we criminalize some intoxicants but not the elephant in the room - alcohol. Did we not learn our lesson from the failure of Prohibition? Just as then (Al Capone, Joseph Kennedy) we make powerful, wealthy, and almost 'untouchable' those willing to break the law in order to satisfy the desires of Mr. John Q. Public. The drug war has been an abject failure with horrific consequences. End it. It is just not possible to legislate moral behavior.
10 people like this.
Reply 5 - Posted by:
wilarrbie 7/1/2020 9:37:46 AM (No. 462907)
Life is a trade-off. What you save in prison costs will rise in health care and homelessness. Drugs are spendy too.
6 people like this.
Reply 6 - Posted by:
HotRod 7/1/2020 9:39:35 AM (No. 462910)
There is an alternative. Make the punishment severe enough to discourage drug use, and especially drug sales.. If the punishment is severe enough, demand will be reduced. When demand is reduced, the price goes up, further reducing demand.
That will only make more people turn to crime, to support their habit? Probably, but it will be short term. We should play for the long term.
No more revolving door treatment for drug users or sellers. The first six months of the sentence should be in a prison hospital, to get the druggie ''clean.'' Then, they should be given a prison job that will earn their keep, so that taxpayers are not paying for it.
Maybe some parents, who think it's harmless for junior or sis to smoke a little dope will rethink their parenting responsibilities.
7 people like this.
Reply 7 - Posted by:
BarryNo 7/1/2020 9:39:45 AM (No. 462911)
Part of the war on drugs has to do with responsibility for actions taken while under the influence of said drug.
Make people fully responsible for their actions, and I might consider it.
9 people like this.
Reply 8 - Posted by:
bpl40 7/1/2020 9:43:29 AM (No. 462918)
Introduce capital punishment. They never come back for more. It is proven.
4 people like this.
Reply 9 - Posted by:
DVC 7/1/2020 9:49:58 AM (No. 462926)
Still a bad idea.
8 people like this.
Reply 10 - Posted by:
Clinger 7/1/2020 9:53:08 AM (No. 462932)
The drug war has its roots in the last prohibition. We grew government to fight booze and rather than reduce the size of government commensurate with the reduction in scope, they simply found a new task for the bloated headcount. Suddenly reefer became our biggest problem.
Government ratchets in one direction with only minor slippage in reverse until it blows up.
5 people like this.
Reply 11 - Posted by:
stablemoney 7/1/2020 10:03:20 AM (No. 462948)
How about enforcing the border and access to drugs? We allow them across our borders every day. And we allow our doctors to be prescription drug pushers, no doctor ever losing their licence for doing it. How about stopping that? We seem to have a lot of laws that are not enforced.
3 people like this.
Reply 12 - Posted by:
HPmatt 7/1/2020 10:12:02 AM (No. 462962)
Yeah! Decriminalize drugs - I can then hire them to drive my delivery trucks and hope they won’t run over people in the crosswalks....
6 people like this.
Reply 13 - Posted by:
MDConservative 7/1/2020 10:25:18 AM (No. 463000)
Simple questions:
Has anyone here ever really craved to use these street pharmaceuticals, only to be stopped by the knowledge that doing so was illegal?
Has anyone here ever used these substances despite their illegality?
If the graveyards boom, that's fine with me. Choices...some bad, like any other dangerous activity result in death. We can hand out Darwin Awards by the truckload. It also reduces the market for the cartels...which law enforcement seems unable to stem.
5 people like this.
Reply 14 - Posted by:
GO3 7/1/2020 10:57:04 AM (No. 463073)
Bad idea. Maybethis is a trigger for me because I and others spent a hell of a lot of time combating drugs in the Army in the mid- to late-70s. This is not an academic exercise. I don't want my tank driver high as a kite operating a 60 ton machine, or the mechanic installing the wrong circuit card, or the intel guy goofing up an order of battle. Having the druggie pay for his irresponsibility unfortunately takes its toll on those around him. Right now there is some jerk a few cars ahead of you going to work smoking a joint. Right now there is a financial advisor doing a line of coke in the back room and wants to make recommendations on how to use your money, and right now there is a meth head in the Army working in a fire direction center giving elevation and deflection figures to the gun crews. Sorry, I'm not buying it.
5 people like this.
Reply 15 - Posted by:
Ida Lou Pino 7/1/2020 10:59:54 AM (No. 463084)
The "War On Drugs" is now 50 years old - - has cost trillions of current dollars - - and drug addiction, drug deaths, crime, gangs, and corruption are worse than ever.
Could anything - - anywhere, ever - - be more of a failure than that?
And what is the purpose of this "War On Drugs"? It's to prevent free individuals from ingesting substances which they voluntarily choose to ingest. The result of these ingestions may be destructive to some of the individuals who take them - - but why should that be my problem? Why should my wealth be confiscated from me - - and my safety and freedom be jeopardized - - because other people may be very stupid and/or self-destructive?
There were - - and are - - many laws against public intoxication. And they are more than sufficient to protect us from drug users who may do dangerous things on public property. But the "War On Drugs" is utterly insane - - and must be ended - - NOW!
6 people like this.
Reply 16 - Posted by:
RuckusTom 7/1/2020 11:00:26 AM (No. 463087)
The prison system is big business for the state. More police, more lawyers, more judges, more guards, more counselors, more instructors for the police, more professors for the lawyers and judges, more instructors for the guards and counselors ... All funded by taxpayers. Back in the good ole days people could mail order cocaine and heroin. Good or bad, it was called "freedom".
4 people like this.
Reply 17 - Posted by:
Hugh Akston 7/1/2020 12:00:40 PM (No. 463176)
Has anyone here ever really craved to use these street pharmaceuticals, only to be stopped by the knowledge that doing so was illegal? - No
Has anyone here ever used these substances despite their illegality? - Yes
But as #7 states - responsibility for their actions.
Question - What do you think the % of users would be if drugs were legal? Same? A little more? A lot more? Less? Who even knows if the number of people using in a state where pot is legal has gone up or really remained static. I'd be willing to bet there is still a black market that may be cheaper than the legal market, just like cigarettes from the South sold in NY/NJ. Does legality give it tacit respectability/acceptance a la alcohol? Catch 22....there are societal costs whether they are legal or not. Do we jail them for drugs or the consequences? We have the consequences anyway as it is. And which 'drugs' are we talking about? Would ODs be reduced because the potency/lethality would be controlled, as compared to some dealer not cutting his heroin enough? We can chase our tails all day on this one.
I sat on this for awhile before I hit submit.
0 people like this.
Reply 18 - Posted by:
learner 7/1/2020 12:10:03 PM (No. 463188)
Here is another idea. Stop the War on Poverty! That has cost much more in terms of treasure,blood and human dignity..
If we stop the War on Drugs will the taxpayers be providing drugs to the addicts? If not does anyone think a junkie who needs a fix will find gainful employment? What other options do they have? They will gravitate towards theft and burglary in order to finance the addictions. This will hurt honest people by stealing property or home invasion or street mugging with very real possibilities of physical injury and they will be sent to prison for these crimes.
1 person likes this.
Reply 19 - Posted by:
DVC 7/1/2020 12:26:18 PM (No. 463219)
This is one of the several places where libertarians run totally off the rails.
1 person likes this.
Reply 20 - Posted by:
Rumblehog 7/1/2020 12:46:02 PM (No. 463260)
That's exactly what George Soros is wanting us to do.
Here's another approach: Adopt the same punishment of Singapore and Thailand for drug dealers - death.
3 people like this.
Reply 21 - Posted by:
bgarrett 7/1/2020 1:16:55 PM (No. 463316)
If your daughter was hooked on drugs would you want her locked up or to get medical treatment?
1 person likes this.
Reply 22 - Posted by:
bgarrett 7/1/2020 1:20:57 PM (No. 463321)
People who take and die from drugs are going to do so if they are legal or illegal.
Making them illegal brings many many problems including tainted drugs. Make it as legal as tobacco and alcohol.
2 people like this.
What kind of society to we want? One that is concerned about its citizens or one that throws all morality and rules for a good and decent life out the window! Legalizing Drugs is being pushed by those set to get rich from legal and available drugs! Follow the money...always! Liquor is legal and I have three friends who have died or are dying from this legal drug! Making Heroin and Meth legal is our answer! Wow! We are truly lost as a people if that is your answer to all our ills!
1 person likes this.
Reply 24 - Posted by:
chumley 7/1/2020 4:35:36 PM (No. 463513)
The counties where I live, work and have business are all loaded with druggies. They squat in vacant houses, hang around gas stations and grocery stores bumming money and I've even seen them falling down outside a county courthouse. The Foster care system is overwhelmed because of all the drugged out mothers neglecting their kids. The war has failed. We lost. The Sheriff's Department busts drug houses and they are replaced with new houses and new druggies before the arraignment. Dumping trillions more on it isn't going to help.
Maybe a better approach would be to open Obama's fema camps as drug centers, where they can get their drugs for nothing as long as they stay. Maybe we'll get lucky and they'll die.
0 people like this.
Reply 25 - Posted by:
DVC 7/1/2020 4:54:26 PM (No. 463530)
#21, the first thing I'd want is the persons who supplied the drugs in the ground.
1 person likes this.
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The War on Drugs is just another wasteful, failed big government program.