For the second time in less than a month, a major conservative leader has spoken out for prison reform.
First there was Reverend Pat Robertson, who made national news when he spoke out against the criminalization of marijuana. On his December 16 show, while doing a segment on faith-based programs in prison and a new campaign named Right on Crime, a push by conservatives advocating for prison reform, he spoke emotionally about ruining young people lives by sending them to jail for only "few ounces of pot."
"We're locking up people that take a couple of puffs of marijuana, and the next thing you know they've got 10 years," said Robertson. "I'm not exactly for the use of drugs -- don't get me wrong - but I just believe that criminalizing marijuana, criminalizing the possession of a few ounces of pot and that kind of thing, I mean, it's just, it's costing us a fortune and it's ruining young people."
Ethan Nadelmann, Executive Director of the Drug Policy Alliance, was quoted in the Washington Post on the significance of Rev. Roberson's words. "His voice is respected by hundreds of thousands or millions of people who might not otherwise think about this issue seriously. His comments were a very important step forward. The only way that this country's going to end up with more sensible and sane drug laws is if people call for it from across the political spectrum."
Today, another prominent voice from the right spoke out against over-incarceration. Former GOP Speaker of the House and possible 2012 Presidential Candidate Newt Gingrich co-authored with Vice President of Prison Fellowship Pat Nolan an op-ed in the Washington Post in which they called for prison reform as a smart way for states to save money and lives. They point out that instead of spending $50,000 to lock someone up in a cage, states need smart, common sense approaches that will save money and keep the public safe. They urge legislators to act with courage and creativity, and hope conservative leaders will join them in reforming the criminal justice system.
The United States has spent hundreds of billions of dollars waging a 40-year "war on drugs" that has been responsible for the imprisonment of millions of our fellow Americans. Despite the enormous waste of money and lives, drugs are as easily available as ever.
At a time when Democrats and Republicans are having a difficult time agreeing on anything, let's hope that we can come together to help end America's longest, unwinnable war.
Tony Newman is the director of media relations at the Drug Policy Alliance (www.drugpolicy.org)
Follow Tony Newman on Twitter: www.twitter.com/TonyNewmanDPA
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Conservative principles, quite clearly, ARE:
1) Limited, locally controlled government.
2) Individual liberty coupled with personal responsibility.
3) Free enterprise.
4) A strong national defense.
5) Fiscal responsibility.
Prohibition is actually an authoritarian War on the Constitution and all civic institutions of our great nation.
It's all about the market and cost/benefit analysis. Whether any particular drug is good, bad, or otherwise is irrelevant! As long as there is demand for any mind altering substance, there will be supply; the end! The only affect prohibiting it has is to drive the price up, increase the costs and profits, and where there is illegal profit to be made criminals and terrorists thrive.
Both the Taliban and the terrorists of al Qaeda derive their main income from the prohibition-inflated value of a very easily grown crop, which means that Prohibition is the "Goose that laid the golden egg" and the lifeblood of terrorists as well as drug cartels. Only those opposed, or willing to ignore this fact, want things the way they are.
A GLOBAL OVERVIEW OF NARCOTICS-FUNDED TERRORIST GROUPS
http://www.loc.gov/rr/frd/pdf-files/NarcsFundedTerrs_Extrems.pdf
The Constitution of the United States of America defines treason as:
"Article III / Section 3. Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying war against them, or adhering to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort."
Support for prohibition is therefor an act of treason.
Flip..... Flop
http://wwwÂ.drugsenseÂ.org/html/Âmodules.phÂp?name=WodÂclock
Funny how Newt and Robertson are right wing blowhards yet have a certain primal appeal to me now. I don't see my new age rep. fighting for my right to
1.) not drink (I don't drink, it is 6 months and 2 days now) and still alter my consciousness after and during a mindless yet rewarding day at or after work.
and B.) smoke an organic bone well grown.
I become a model citizen if you let me take one puff before I make an impulsive decision. don't bogart my rights, my friend. legalize just the seed...don't....bo...gart...my rights, my friend...straight I'm less fun to read.
The present system is bankrupting state and federal systems.
However, they are required to be on post prison supervision, which requires them to have a place to live, and a means of support.
When you are out on the streets, regardless of how much you want to be clean, you still need to fill that most basic human need, food. With no source of legitimate income, no qualifying for any type of public assistance, your options are diminished. Your former friends, and most of your family have turned their backs on you, so about the only people you know anymore that will hang with you are people you've met inside. We can see where this is leading, right?
Since we took the reform part out of incarceration, making it a straight penal system, prisons have become schools for learning about other crimes, joining gangs, and isolating convicts from the rest of society.
I work for an indigent firm, so I have a lot of 1st hand experience of the harm our current system causes. It's a shame so many people want to be "tough on crime" not realizing that first time minor offenders get the same sentence as repeat offenders under mandatory minium sentences and how the state you live in makes a big difference as to crime versus punishment.