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the
mad american ‘drug war’ rolls ever onward - don’t
confuse us with the facts
“The leading international figures behind the report do not pull theirpunches.
They say sensible regulation of drugs is working in somecountries
but they accuse many governments around the world ofpretending
that the current war on drugs is effective when they knowit isn't.
But, of course, the Obama administration block their ears.
“The office of White House drug tsar Gil Kerlikowske rejected the panel's
recommendations.”
Report
downloadable from this link.
“Act urgently: the war on drugs has failed, and policies need to change
now.
“There are signs of inertia in the drug policy
debate in some parts of the world, as policymakers understand
that current policies and strategies are failing but do not know
what to do instead. There is atemptation to avoid the issue. This
is an abdication of policy responsibility – for every year
we continue with the current approach, billions of dollars are
wasted on ineffective programs, millions of citizens are sent
to prison unnecessarily, millions more suffer from the drug dependence
of loved ones who cannot access health and social care services,
and hundreds of thousands of people die from preventable overdoses
and diseases contracted through unsafe drug use.
“There
are other approaches that have been proven to tackle these problems
that countries can pursue now. Getting drug policy right is not
a matter for theoretical or intellectual debate – it is
one of the key policy challenges of our time.”
Meanwhile California is going bankrupt.
“MORE than
30,000 prisoners could be freed from California's jails after
the US Supreme Court ruled that overcrowding levels were inhumane.
“In
a 5-4 majority decision, the court yesterday gave California two
years to reduce its jail population by 23 per cent.
“Speaking
for the majority, judge Anthony Kennedy, a California native,
said the care provided to 143,000 prisoners by the largest US
state fell below the standard of decency under the eighth amendment
of the US constitution, which bans cruel and unusual punishment.
“Justice
Kennedy related terrible stories of suicidal prisoners kept in
"telephone
booth-sized cages without toilets" and others with cancer,
or severe pain, dying before they were allowed to see a doctor.
“Among
"appalling" conditions, he described how 200 prisoners
were forced to live in a gymnasium and up to 54 inmates shared
a single toilet." [Quoted from theaustralian.com.au]
“The Supreme Court has ruled that California must release 46,000 prisoners
due to overpopulation. In looking for solutions to the problem,
California, a state that is on the verge of bankruptcy, hasthe
option of building more prisons, sending the prisoners to theindividual
counties they came from which cannot afford to hold them, or releasing
them into the public.
“Using logic it would seem that
the prudent thing to do would be to release 46,000 inmates who
are in prison for victimless crimes as they would not be a threat
to the public. So is this what they are going to do? Not a chance.
They will release rapists and murderers for the purpose of coercing
the people to vote in more taxes for more prisons.
“On a FOX Business interview, John McGinness, a former Sacramento
Sheriff and talk radio host, said with a smirk on his face, in
essence that violence was going to be unleashed on the people
of California if they refused to pay more taxes for more prisons,
suggesting that the majority of those in our prisons are there
for violent crimes, which is an out and out lie.
“The United States has more people incarcerated than any other country
on the planet, including communist China. Most of the people in
prison are there as a result of the phony $40 billion a year drug
war and the three strikes law. Under the three strikes law any
citizen convicted of three felonies is sentenced to life in prison.
There are American citizens in our prisons doing life for three
bad checks, three convictions for drug possession, and other non-violent
crimes.” [Quoted from fromthetrenchesworldreport.com]
related material
Drugs, smoking
and addiction
the web address for the article above is
https://www.abelard.org/news/politics062011.php#mad_us_drug_war_020611
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