1% of US population in jail.

81
Let me preface this by saying that I have a degree in Sociology(hehe) and I am pretty "liberal".....What ever happened to utilizing a prison workforce for the common good? I can think of so many public works projects that could be fixed, if we were able to utilize the prison workforce. I'm not talking chain gang conditions, I'm just thinking in terms of offsetting the cost of housing and feeding sedentary individuals(possibly forcing those individuals), by cleaning more freeways, building dikes, and what about good old license plates? I can also imagine that the effects of this might improve some individual's physical condition, skill set, and it would probably cut down on the inner-prison violence because they would be "busy"....just a concept....?

1% of US population in jail.

82
BadComrade wrote:
Skronk wrote:If drugs were legal, the price would substantially drop, so it's more affordable. But legality aside, what we need is greater treatment, so the addict wouldn't have to resort to crime to get his fix.


Why wait until the treatment stage? Why not spend more money on prevention and education? Bring a crack head in to a classroom and let 2nd graders spend 30 minutes with him... they won't wanna do drugs for the rest of their lives.


I never said prevention and more education is a bad idea. They're good.
....
I don't agree that "all" drugs can be used responsibly, since certain drugs disable rational thought and action. Go ahead and hang out in a locked room with some dude high on PCP for a few hours, and see if you feel he's acting "responsible" while he's trying to rip your face off.


PCP is not going to make all users go apeshit. There are varied reactions, but it can be used responsibly. Regardless of the effect, a hardline stance doesn't help anyone. It doesn't warrant the kind of legality it has now.

What about other drugs, like coke, or heroin?

Yes, over time, more and more people were opposed to it. But we're talking about alcohol here. You can't compare alcohol to hard drugs.


Why can't I? Alcohol poses serious health risks. That's what alarms me about drugs, not some 'boogeyman' idea about what it turns people into. Because alcohol is a socially acceptable drug doesn't exclude it from drug talk.

Because, like I said... a guy high on pot isn't gonna try and eat your face, or die of an overdose. He's gonna try and eat your food, and then fall asleep on your couch.

A guy doing heroin? Different story.


What's with the constant "eat your face" dialogue? Casual PCP use won't make you peel your face off, or lunge at police. It's always the negative instances that get magnified by the media.

What's the guy on heroin gonna do, scratch himself and doze off on my couch?

All of these problems stemming from the use of drugs, the robbery to feed the addiction, the social menace, the domestic violence, drug running, is being amplified by keeping it illegal. High prices, and increased potency, result in more criminal acts, and overdoses. Keeping it illegal gives organized crime, and the cartels a monopoly over supply, therefore crime just keeps going. Add the growing prison population, it's not going to get better. "Just Say No" Reagan mentality doesn't work either. People are going to find it no matter what. At least let them experiment without turning them into second class citizens.

It's a sad state when I can find weed, and shrooms faster than a bottle of vodka.
Marsupialized wrote:I want a piano made out of jello.
It's the only way I'll be able to achieve the sound I hear in my head.

1% of US population in jail.

84
BadComrade wrote:I know drug users, and I can't think of a single one that's ever gone to jail (leaving out the addicts I run in to at work).


I'm guessing they are mostly middle class or white. The drug war is blatantly racist in it's implementation, and always has been.

Our research shows that blacks comprise 62.7 percent and whites 36.7 percent of all drug offenders admitted to state prison, even though federal surveys and other data detailed in this report show clearly that this racial disparity bears scant relation to racial differences in drug offending. There are, for example, five times more white drug users than black. Relative to population, black men are admitted to state prison on drug charges at a rate that is 13.4 times greater than that of white men. In large part because of the extraordinary racial disparities in incarceration for drug offenses, blacks are incarcerated for all offenses at 8.2 times the rate of whites. One in every 20 black men over the age of 18 in the United States is in state or federal prison, compared to one in 180 white men.
http://www.hrw.org/reports/2000/usa/

That report is from 2000, after Clinton. I imagine it's only gotten worse since then.

http://www.drugwarfacts.org/racepris.htm
“As I have said before, the ever more sophisticated weapons piling up in the arsenals of the wealthiest and the mightiest can kill the illiterate, the ill, the poor and the hungry, but they cannot kill ignorance, illness, poverty or hunger.”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 311 guests