Drug War Makes New York Legislator Doggone Crazy

New York State Assemblyman Thomas Kirwan of Newburgh, a retired state trooper, recently introduced legislation that would prevent people with felony drug convictions from owning dogs such as pit bulls and Rottweilers. The legislation would prevent such individuals from owning any dog that weighs more than 20 pounds "that has either been trained to physically attack persons or has exhibited a vicious disposition or propensity."

In his own words, the assemblyman said these dogs are clearly the drug dealer's choice. In substantiating his rationale, Kirwan, a Republican from Orange County, surmised that "once someone has been convicted of a drug crime, there is no reason why a rational society should let him have a dog like this."

Kirwan's misguided attempt to safeguard the public is just one in a long line of moronic policies to come out of America's failed drug war. Get busted smoking a joint and students lose their federal financial aid. Get slapped with a simple drug possession charge and you and your family can get kicked out of public housing. The war on drugs is a vicious, dirty war that punitively punishes individuals for getting high -- the same type of high you can get from a martini or two.

I was convicted of a nonviolent drug crime 24 years ago. If Assemblyman Kirwan has his way, I will not be able to own a dog weighing more than 20 pounds! Kirwan is running for re-election this year. We need leaders in Albany that are sensible. It's time for the people to speak out against politicians like Kirwan who long to be dog catchers instead of effective politicians who seek to represent the people in meaningful ways.

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Comments

[Angelus2007]

As far as the financial aid being cut off, I completely agree. We have people who don't go to college because they can't afford to, or if they do, they don't get the education they deserve because they have to work 40 hours a week on top of going to class and studying because they need to eat and live. I pay with my taxes federal financial aid (of course private scholarships are different). I want that money to go to a kid who wants to learn, who wants to work hard, not some kid who decides to smoke pot and get high instead of studying. The simple answer is don't smoke pot. Should pot be legal? Maybe, but right now it isn't, so don't do it. There are consequences in your life for everything, if you make a mistake, you pay the cost. There are no do-overs. If you are responsible enough to recieve an education that costs upwards of $10,000 a year, you are responsible enough to no make this choice. Yes it is true a student could theoretically try one joint get busted and lost their aid, but come one most students who get busted have smoked over and over again. That is their choice, play by the rules or risk the consequences.

[edtastic]

America is a "Mean Country", there is an obsession with punishment, blood lust for war, and praise of unrelenting greed and excess. America is #1 in the world for prison population and prisoners per capita. These are not things to be proud of, it demonstrates one of the many failures of a democracy. Our citizens are ill informed and subject to constant fear mongering. The result is distorted reality making distorted policy backing politicians that continue to pervert reality to get re-elected. The savage cycle of self destruction must stop, brave people have to stand up and deliver the reality check. The few informed need to make a hell of a lotta noise so that the ill informed over time can slowly come to terms with the reality reflected in the facts.

[SeanC2]

I'm all for banning dog ownership among people who let vicious dogs run wild or bark all night, and anybody with a proven history of hostile or violent behavior should be prohibited from dog ownership as well, as dogs tend to become an instrument of aggression against the community in the hands of such people. Given the large number of hostile, anti-social or clueless individuals in this country who allow their dogs to attack people or other animals or become nuisance barkers, there is a far greater case for prohibition against dog ownership on the basis of public health and safety than there is prohibition of pot. But the idea that a drug conviction, no matter how mild, should disqualify someone from owning a dog, or for that matter, getting financial aid for college, is deranged. There is something wrong in a society that allows anybody, no questions asked, to keep and own a wild animal in the vicinity of children, but will arrest, penalize and imprison someone for the "crime" or possessing a drug for his own use.

[leftLibertarian]

Prohibition has never worked. It didn't work for alcohol and it sure as shyt doesn't work for marijuana, LSD, and cocaine. All it does it create black markets for the criminal element and makes users of said products criminals.