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Re: Guarded Hope for Dope Reform
By Randy Dotinga
From: Eric E. Sterling, J.D.
President
The Criminal Justice Policy Foundation
I am the author of the commentary in the Los Angeles Times regarding cocaine sentencing that you referred to in this story. As former counsel to the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on the Judiciary for nine years responsible for federal drug policy, among many issues, I have some insight into the politics of drug policy.
My first comment is, "shame on your editors" for such a vapid headline: "Guarded Hope for Dope Reform." This kind of headline typifies an element of news media coverage of efforts to change our national drug strategy – trivialize the matter through cute, pun-filled references to pot, dope, weed, etc. This type of headline is in marked contrast to headlines about drug misuse phenomena which are always painted in dire terms: epidemic, crisis, etc.
Second, even though some very knowledgeable experts were interviewed, the article reveals an ignorance of the legislative process. For example, when Bill Piper, the savvy director of the Washington Office of the Drug Policy Alliance, says regarding the medical use of marijuana, "at the very least, we'll see some hearings on the issue," you editorialized, "Hearings? Big whoop."
In fact, getting Congress to act typically takes many years, even for completely non-controversial matters. Having a hearing is a critical stage in the process. It signifies the importance of the issue to the subcommittee with jurisdiction. It establishes the factual basis for taking action. Any knowledgeable Washington hand could tell you that for an issue that for a decade has had a bill pending without a hearing, this would be genuine progress.
Third, your article jumbles more than it clarifies many issues that have to do with addressing very different criminal justice, public health, and medications policies that happen to have controlled substances in common.
For example, the issue of making sterile syringes available to injecting drug users is a public health intervention that is widespread in much of the world as a means to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS and hepatitis. Providing federal public health funding for such efforts has nothing to do with allowing doctors to recommend marijuana or their patients to use it as a medications policy, nor anything to do with just sentencing for those who violate the controlled substances law.
The fact that Bernie Sanders is a socialist or that he has been elected to the Senate is irrelevant to any of these issues, except for the fact you did not mention that he will caucus with the Democrats and give the Democrats the one vote necessary to control the Senate.
I think most observers in Washington recognize that resolution of issues that have been controversial like those mentioned above will require both the leadership of one party or the other AND a substantial bipartisan cooperation. The critical fact is that on many of these issues, the Democrats who control the various key subcommittees are likely to take the lead.
The question of sentencing reform illustrates this. Only a bipartisan approach will be politically viable, but with a Democratic Congress, leadership is almost certain. However, if the Republicans had retained control, their leaders would have been much less likely to let a reform advance.
Regarding the votes in Nevada and Colorado, it should be noted that more than 40 percent of the voters in each state said that the private possession and use of marijuana should no longer be punished. While this is not a majority, it demonstrates that there is no longer a public consensus in those states that this conduct is wrong. A public consensus that misconduct merits punishment (e.g. the universal agreement that robbers, rapists, etc. deserve punishment) is fundamental to the morality of state punishment. It is immoral for the state to punish conduct that a substantial minority believes is not wrong. These votes bring into question whether the continued punishment of those who use marijuana can be morally justified.
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Re: Oh, the (Lack of) Humanity
By Tony Long
From: Gary Greene
A very big thank you for this one. In 2002 I was finishing a position Managing Tech Support for Montage Phototech International (nee Presentation Graphics), a maker of film recorders that went broke that year along with so many in Silicon Valley. I also turned 55. By 2003, everything I had was gone. Lots of people end up on the street. For me it was bad timing and some bad decisions.
I still can't get over the VTA bus driver who tried to confiscate the monthly pass the shelter gave me because I had the gall to wear a suit while looking for work. Obviously, I was a cheater since I didn't match her preconceptions.
Today, I may still be poor, but I manage a shelter and I've seen all types end up here, but every one of them's a real human being. Maybe not all are someone safe or admirable, but all deserve that basic level of respect you wrote about.
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Re: Attack of the Perv Trackers
By Randy Dotinga
From: Keith Richard Radford Jr.
Most sex offenders have families, friends, relatives and children. Some are required to register for much lesser crimes of flashing, incest, prostitution and a host of other offenses.
Contrary to the media's torch, grouping all registered sex offenders is dangerous. Even the DOJ in a report states American politicians have lied. This you can find on the Department Of Justice website, November 2003, NCJ 198281.
Only 3.5 percent of new sex offenses are committed by an offender on the sex offender's registry. The remaining 96.5 percent are committed by unregistered citizens.
See how 3-year-old children have been placed on the registry and how citizens are held indefinitely after their sentence has been served.
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