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Thursday, June 14, 2012

And Justice For All


On Flag Day, I am reminded of the Pledge of Allegiance and the last phrase--"And Justice for All".  We can all argue the validity of that lofty goal and whether we can really claim its achievement. I always hesitate to get involved in political discussions because a good lawyer can argue many shades of gray on any issue and I'm not a lawyer. I received an interesting e-mail and I suspect many others with blogs have also seen this item.

At this location, this organization attempts to address some serious issues of our times. I must say that from what I've seen of their argument regarding incarceration in this country, I tend to agree. We have far too many people being sent off to prison for non-violent crimes mostly related to drug use. Lots of questions and I have to wonder now that prisons are being privatized, where is the motivation to stop so much incarceration when it pays that industry so well.?

I don't use illegal drugs and or legal ones for that matter, but I think it is time for this country to consider that the war on drugs was lost a long time ago. Sending the marijuana user off to prison makes no more sense than incarcerating the person who has a glass of wine. Society isn't well served when more is spent on prisons than on education. It might be worth a try when, like prohibition of alcohol, you take the money out of the drug trade, regulate and tax it, we might all be better off.



6 comments:

  1. Amen, R.J. It makes no sense to imprison an elderly woman because she has smoked pot, hurt nobody, and has no desire to. No sense at all...

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  2. You are a patriot!


    Aloha from Waikiki,
    Comfort Spiral
    > < } } ( ° >

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  3. agree. but only for using, not selling...

    smiles, bee
    xoxoxoxoxo

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  4. My brother was a drug addict for most of his adult life. He injected heroin, spent 10 years in prison for terroristic threatening, and died of hepatitis C 6 months upon release from prison. What a waste! He was a high school art teacher before prison. It was very stressful for his wife and 2 children. All of this was due to his drug addiction, which started with marijuana and gradually switched to harder drugs. I am against marijuana for that reason.

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  5. Sorry for the problems your brother had. I would not say I am in favor of drug use, I am just against the govt. trying to fight that battle with tax money. That money would be better spent trying to get treatment for people rather than putting people in jail. The govt. can't play parent for people. For some people, marijuana might be a gateway drug, but not necessarily for some others.

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