I urge you to read this article by Alice Speri in the Intercept. 89,000 people jailed--no, not per year, per day.
The war on some drugs is fantastically cruel, counterproductive, self-inflicted insanity. If it were enforced across the board--rather than disproportionately against minorities--two thirds of America's adult population would be in prison.
People who support this madness: would you feel the same way if your kid decided to try a joint and wound up arrested, tried, imprisoned, permanently denied the right to vote even after released and with a permanent felon record afterward? Could you really support prohibition if you knew it would do all that to your own child, rather than assuming that kind of thing only happens to the children of others?
I wish someone would ask this of candidates for high office. But we can at least ask ourselves.
The war on some drugs is fantastically cruel, counterproductive, self-inflicted insanity. If it were enforced across the board--rather than disproportionately against minorities--two thirds of America's adult population would be in prison.
People who support this madness: would you feel the same way if your kid decided to try a joint and wound up arrested, tried, imprisoned, permanently denied the right to vote even after released and with a permanent felon record afterward? Could you really support prohibition if you knew it would do all that to your own child, rather than assuming that kind of thing only happens to the children of others?
I wish someone would ask this of candidates for high office. But we can at least ask ourselves.
This "must appear to oppose drug use no matter what" is pervasive and extends beyond the criminal justice system. My son's girlfriend, who is a wonderful person, was a 4.0 student in high school, on the way to becoming valedictorian of her class, and then on to an ivy league school on the east cost. A random inspection turned up a very small amount of marijuana in her locker. She was suspended and forced into a rehabilitation clinic. Her life was basically destroyed. She barely graduated high school and began acting as the criminal that people treated her as. She moved to the west coast and lived on the streets until she began getting her life together. She met my son and they are a fantastic couple. Who knows where she would be in life if not for a piece of plant matter smaller than a pencil eraser. Can we pelease agree to do what's best for people rather than serve some misguided political policy?
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