Obama's Changes to Drug Policy so Far

CHANGES:
1. Repeal law that bans federal funding for free needle programs... this prevents the spread of disease and saves taxpayer money on MediCaid spening.
2. Obama has pressed congress to make crack and cocaine posession equal offenses, as cocaine is the base of both drugs... this prevents racist and classist oppression (poor people and minorities are more likely to use crack).
3. He has stopped the DEA from interfering with states that have legalized marijuana... this reduces costs of law enforcement, courts, and federal prisons.
4. He has also proposed a new plan of increasing community drug treatment and prevention programs, a plan that is briefly outlined in the article below:
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/may/12/obama-outlines-minor-changes-to-anti-drug-policies/

Effects of Labeling and a look at Critical Theory

Reviewing my reading for Community Social Work Practice, a few points from the chapter on "The Nature of Social and Community Problems" stand out (Community Practice by Hardcastle and Powers).

LABELING: People who have violated drug policies and are incarcerated, on parole, on probation, are felons, or have been publicly known to have committed minor drug crimes are all often labeled.

Labels include loser, jailbird, felon, druggie, criminal, and many others.

As the book points out, labeling can have serious social and economic consequences. "Public labels such as..."ex-con" are conceptualizations that can create or sustain a problem." (p. 67)

In addition, the book discusses how incarceration intensely labels people, but that once you have served your term you can't get rid of that label.

I have observed this phenomenon in action in my internship last year as a medical social worker. The social workers at the hospital that I worked at were referred the patients who had risk factors, including a known history of legal problems, or in the case of new mothers in the OB, partners with legal problems.

Automatically, if your chart mentioned felonies, probation, or other legal involvement you would be referred to one of us.

Therefore, if you were an identified 'troublemaker', you would be more likely to be analyzed closely on matters such as child welfare, drug screenings, visitations, and other aspects of your life.

Therefore, if you were an identified 'troublemaker' you would be more likely to get in more trouble by virtue of more attention being put on you.

I see this as a microcosm of what is happening everywhere in the US: Police are policing poor areas more and therefore targeting the poor and minorities. Police are policing those who are already on probation or parole more, so it makes it harder to break free from the system.

CRITICAL PERSPECTIVE:

Hardcastle and Powers tell the reader to think about "...who is benefitting from maintaining a particular problem..."(p.66)

This is a thought process that reveals a lot about the state of our country when it comes to incarceration.

When 1 in 99 are incarcerated, who benefits or has benefitted in the past?

As I have mentioned in past blogs,

1. The democratic party benefitted when it passed the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986, creating Mandatory Minimum Sentencing, by appearing to be "tough on crime" right before an election

2. The Reagans benefitted by riding on the glory of creating these laws and the "Just Say No" slogan, almost like a product line

3. Many other politicians have benefitted by being "tough on crime", I mean, who is going to vote against getting those evil-doing drug lovers off the streets?

4. Private Prison companies benefit from full prisons, they certainly can run their businesses unless people are being incarcerated.

5. Alcohol companies have benefitted. They have a stronghold on the mind-altering business.

Hardcastle and Powers go on to mention how different people, classes, cultures, countries etc. can have varying perspectives on a problem. This is certainly true when it comes to the mass incarceration of drug offenders, when coming from an impoverished area.

Example Upper class view: *Get those druggies out of my neighborhood!

*Those addicts are dangerous monsters, did you see her teeth?

*This is America and they could be anything, stupid druggies!

*Nothing wrong with a little Xanax and Scotch

Example Poor view: *Get those cops out of my neighborhood, they target us!

*My husband is in prison for drugs, now I have to raise the kids alone.

*It seems impossible to get ahead when you're stuck in the system.

*Sometimes drugs seem like the only way to make money, or to be happy.

The rich and powerful have little room for drug offenders, they have no value and in fact have no voting power.

33 CA prisons 33 thoughts

Here are the quotes from the Youtube video that my classmates and I just posted... and the link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-5byiEu_CA

1) The degree of civilization in a society can be judged by entering its prisons ~ Dostoevsky
2) The United States incarcerates more of its citizens per capita than any other nation in the world
3) 1 in 99 adult US citizens is behind bars
4) 1 in 33 adult US citizens is incarcerated, on probation or on parole
5) The US has 5% of the world's population but 23% of the world's prison population
6) The US cages its citizens at a rate of 751 per 100,000
7) The world average is 125
8) The average of the nations in the European Union is 135
9) Nearly one million of those incarcerated in state and federal prisons, as well as local jails, are serving time for committing non-violent crimes
10) The solution to our drug problem is not in incarceration ~ Barry McCaffrey, former US Drug Czar
11) Since 1980, incarcerated drug offenders have increased more than 1200%
12) More than half of federal prisoners are incarcerated for drug charges
13) “In 2000, the number of persons behind bars for drug offences was roughly the same as the entire US prison and jail population only twenty years earlier.” ~ Beckley Report, King’s College, London
14) “For comparative purposes, it is noteworthy that at the beginning of the Twenty-First century, there were 100,000 more persons imprisoned in the US for drug offences than the total number of prisoners in the EU, even though the EU had 100 million more citizens than the US” ~ Beckley Report, King’s College, London
15) "The drug war is primarily being waged against African American citizens…”~ Justice Policy Institute
16) In 2007 the incarceration rate for white men in the US was 773 per 100,000.
17) The incarceration rate for Hispanic men 1,747 per 100,000.
18) The incarceration rate for black men was 4,618 per 100,000
19) According to the US based Sentencing Project, nearly one in three (32%) of Afro-American men between the ages of 20 and 29 were under criminal justice control in 1995.
20) 1 in 9 black men between the age of 20-34 years old are incarcerated
21) 7% of black kids have parent incarcerated
22) In every year from 1980 to 2007 blacks were arrested for drug crimes at a rates relative to the population that were 2.8 to 5.5 times higher than whites ~ Human Rights Watch
23) 1 in 36 Hispanics over 18+ are incarcerated
24) 1 in 15 Black men over 18+ are incarcerated
25) California has the largest prison system in the US
26) 33 prisons in CA and 170,000 inmates
27) 1 in 5 California prison inmates is serving a life term
28) CA spends 9.66 billion on corrections per year, more than all its colleges and universities
29) Nearly 10 cents of every state $1 goes to CA state prisons
30) We (US or CA?) spend $35,000 per inmate and $9,000 per pupil
31) Between 1980 and 2004, the CA prison system grew from 24,569 to 159,695 inmates (550%)
32) CA is #1 in prison spending and #431 in educational spending
33) A federal three-judge panel has ruled that California is violating the Constitution by not providing adequate care to its prisoners and must release 55,000 inmates

Adoption and Safe Families Act-A Euphemism

****Child Welfare Code****

The Adoption and Safe Families Act

ARE DRUGS A LEGITIMATE REASON FOR A MOTHER TO LOSE HER CHILDREN???

WOMEN: Imagine yourself in a time where you might have been breaking the law in relation to drug use or possession. Maybe you were simply in the presence of someone who was breaking the law. Maybe you didn't know it, but you picked up a hitch-hiker with a kilo of cocaine.



Imagine that you had the worst luck ever, and that you were convicted of a non-violent drug crime and sentenced to two years time.



Unfortunately for you, the "Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997" (PL 105-89) might mean that you will permanently loose custody of your children.



From www.womenandprison.org :

"...If a child is in foster care for 15 of the past 22 months, the state must move to terminate the parent's rights..."



"...known as ASFA, has made it far more likely that mothers (in prison) of children in foster care will lose their children permanently. ..ASFA makes four important changes to foster care policy at the federal level.

First, it removes the requirement for states to provide reasonable efforts to reunite foster children with their parents under specified circumstances, and it emphasizes that the child's health and safety shall be the paramount concern when providing reasonable efforts.

Second, it hastens the process of permanency planning and court proceedings, and mandates reasonable efforts to find a permanent placement for the child in cases when reasonable efforts to reunite the family are not required.

Third, it imposes a mandate for states to move to terminate parental rights in certain circumstances, with a shorter timeline for parents to complete services and regain custody or face termination. If a child is in foster care for 15 of the past 22 months, the state must move to terminate the parent's rights except under certain circumstances.

Fourth, it provides financial incentives for states to increase the number of adoptions completed annually. The Act also provides for criminal records checks for prospective foster and adoptive parents, calls for documentation of agency efforts to locate an adoptive or other permanent homes, and promotes resources for cross-jurisdictional adoptions and permanent placements of children across state and county lines. "



The Adoption and SAFE Families Act of 1997 is just another euphemism, like the 'Patriot Act', it's name does not represent the policy.



It should be called the LESS TIME to GET YOUR KID BACK ACT



"Under ASFA, reasonable efforts to preserve and reunify families are not required when a parent has:

• Subjected the child to aggravated circumstances such as abandonment, torture, or abuse
  


• Committed, or had any criminal accountability in, the murder or manslaughter of a child or the child's other parent, or
  


• Committed felony assault resulting in serious bodily injury to the child or the other parent."

So, breaking down the loaded language again, the ASFA does not require the state to preserve families when a woman fights back against or kills an abusive husband.

Imagine you are a woman who was convicted of a drug charge because of your husband's involvement in drugs. Now imagine that he is abusive towards you and your children. You finally fight back in order to save your life, or your child's life. You go to jail for assaulting your husband, and when police find drugs at the house you are convicted of more crimes. Ultimately, your child is permanently placed with another family because of the ASFA. You will never see your child again.

We might call this the NO WAY TO GET YOUR KID BACK ACT in this case.

Accepting that Drugs are Part of the Human Experience

PARTY DRUGS: Altering your mental state is just part of the human experience for most.

An escape or twist to everyday reality is appealing.

People have a spectrum of how far they take that human urge.

For some, it is as benign as a caffiene high, while others explore the edges of consciousness, sanity, and reality through intense substances like DMT (also reportedly benign).

For some, that urge is constant, while others use mind altering substances as a rare celebration or introspection.

I've been thinking about festivals and concerts, and 'party drugs'. There are MANY people I know who occasionally use substances such as LSD, mushrooms, DMT, or molly. These types of drugs are HIGHLY illegal and warrant extreme penalties according to federal mandatory minimum sentencing policy.

Strangely, they are drugs that are widely used in celebration. Usually people are using these drugs while dancing in extacy, or hugging people with a giant grin, or sometimes while quietly freaking out in a corner.

These are really drugs that are so POTENT that no one wants to use them regularly.

I have never heard of crime related to these drugs.

And yet, a vial of acid will get you 5-10 years in prison on first offense federally (trafficking). Similar penalties apply to other psychadelics.

I agree that powerful drugs like these shouldn't be easily accessible to people, I mean, who wants to have their soup spiked with psychadelic mushrooms? Some 'party' drugs have potential to do great harm and create suffering in the wrong hands.

However, I don't think it's right that peaceful people are serving major time for possessing these substances!

Hemp, the wonder plant and..HEMP HOUSES

I've heard of the benefits of HEMPSEED OIL, have seen HEMP CLOTHING, and even expensive HEMP HAIR PRODUCTS... but I just read about HEMP HOUSES. http://www.harbay.net/fibre/hemphouses.html

In Australia, Ireland and the UK, people are experimenting with building hemp houses.

Hemp is a relative of the Cannabis plant but no matter how much you smoke of it, it will not get you high. This is the ancestor of modern day marijuana.

Hemp is illegal to grow in the USA, but in the old days its use was widespread because it is such an easy to grow and useful crop. In fact, paper, ropes, and sails were usually made out of hemp because it is one of the strongest natural fibers known to man!

One of the best things that could come out of the new legislation to Legalize and Tax Cannabis would be the ability of CA farmers to grow the hemp crop.

This would make California the only state in the country that could grow hemp legally.

We would have a corner on the market, and might improve our economy!

HEMP HEMP HEMP HEMP HEMP HEMP HEMP

33 STATE PRISONS 170,000 PRISONERS IN CA

When I heard the statistics at the weekend sociology class I took on the Industrial Prison Complex, I started to doodle in order to better conceptualize the numbers. I'm a visual learner.

IMAGE DESCRIPTION:

Each square is 1,000 inmates.

Each polygon is a prison.

Red blocks represent all of the non-violent drug offenders, around a third of inmates.

mandatory minimum sentencing

(These are some main points from a social work policy paper that I co-wrote last year)

FEDERAL DRUG SENTENCING: mandatory minimums

• The enactment of this law was fueled by politics before an election.Tip O’Neill, House Speaker in 1986, was from Boston where Boston Celtic’s Len Bias died of a cocaine overdose. He promoted the Democratic party right before elections with the Anti-Drug Abuse Act.“No hearings were held…No experts…no judges, no one from the Bureau of Prisons, or from any office in the government, provided advise on the idea before it was rushed through the committee and into law…passed a few weeks before the November elections.” Eric Sterling, Esq. for PBS

• This law was not intended to drive up incarceration rates, but it has.“This legislation is not intended as a means of filling our jails with drug users. What we must do as a society is identify those who use drugs, reach out to them, help them quit, and give them the support they need to live right.” President Reagan, 1986
  
• “More than one in 100 adults in the United States is in jail or prison, an all-time high that is costing state governments nearly $50 billion a year and the federal government $5 billion more, according to a report released yesterday. With more than 2.3 million people behind bars, the United States leads the world in both the number and percentage of residents it incarcerates, leaving far-more-populous China a distant second…” Washington Post 2/29/08
  Federal drug sentencing power was taken out of the hands of judges and given to prosecutors. Judges are bound to use the federal sentencing grid. Prosecutors have choice in what evidence they bring against the defendant.
  
• The federal drug sentencing grid is too harsh.“Mandatory minimums are harsh and in many cases unjust. If the hypothetical example of an 18-year-old gets caught growing marijuana in the woods and happens to have a hunting rifle in his truck when arrested, he could face a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years. Now he shouldn’t be doing that, (but) an 18-yearold doesn’t know how long 15 years is.” Anthony Kennedy, U.S. Supreme Court justice, in Congressional testimony, 2003
• 
  Illegal drugs should be viewed in the same light as alcohol, cigarettes, caffeine, and addictive prescription drugs. Some illegal drugs, such as marijuana, are less harmful to the body than alcohol, cigarettes, or pain killers.
  
• Drug use is not a moral issue.
  
• People should have freedom over their own bodies.
• Personal drug use affects children and communities, but so does incarceration! Which is worse: A child growing up without a parent, or a child growing up with a drug user?
• Drug addiction should be a medical issue, not a legal issue.
  
• There are many treatment options that are more effective in deterring drug use than incarceration. Incarceration does not significantly prevent or deter drug use. Drug treatment programs and diversion are effective and more cost-efficient. (O’Callaghan, Sonderegger, & Klag, 2004)
  
• MANY PEOPLE LIKE DRUGS! We don’t have enough prison space for all of them!“In 2006, almost 40% of young people age 18–20, about one-third of 21–25 year-olds, and one-quarter of 26–29 year-olds reported using an illicit drug in the past year.” Center for Disease Control Study
  
• “112 million Americans age 12 or older (45% of the population) reported illicit drug use at least once in their lifetime.” Bureau of Justice: 2006

Drug War Clock

Check out the DRUG WAR CLOCK at

http://www.drugsense.org/wodclock.htm

This clock shows a running total of figures related to the war on drugs for 2009:

Federal Money Spent

currently $16,748,000,000

State Money Spent

currently $25,709,000,000

Total Money Spent

currently $42 Billion

(OVER $600 per second!)

People Arrested

1,542,000

Arrested for Cannabis

731,000

Incarcerated

9,058

TIC TOC TIC TOC TIC TOC TIC TOC

Over-achieving Criminals

CRIMINAL DRUG USERS

Michael Phelps

..........14 OLYMPIC GOLDS!

...........37 World Records Broken!

.. and they say pot makes you lazy :)

Arnold Schwarzenegger

.......5 Mr. Universe wins

.......7 Mr. Olympia wins

"Marijuana is not a drug. It's a leaf. My drug was pumping iron, trust me." (interview by GQ 2007)

Not much of a pot smoker myself (okay, maybe I did inhale once or twice, unlike Bill Clinton), I have known many pot smokers that are amazing atheletes. I have personally known many professional and near professional-level snowboarders, skiers, and rock climbers who all seem to smoke pot! It doesn't seem to slow anyone down. In fact, it supposedly opens up your lungs and is often recommended as a natural remedy for asthma.

Initiative for 2010 to Legalize Pot in CA

There is an initiative currently in circulation that would legalize marijuana in California. According to the Secretary of State website (http://www.sos.ca.gov/), 433,971 signatures are required by February 10th in order to get the initiative turned into a proposition on the California ballot next fall.

(Yes, the Governator used to smoke dope before his workouts.. more on that later)

This initiative is called Initiative Measure 09-0024

"Regulate, Control and Tax Cannabis Act of 2010"

I am personally in favor of this initiative. I think it is a part of what California needs to do on the road to decriminalizing drugs and reducing the harmful, overzealous, and racist effects of current drug policy. With a third of the state's incarcerated there for drug offenses, and half of the federally incarcerated behind bars due to drugs, change can't come soon enough.

In every way, marijuana is less harmful to people than cigarettes or alcohol. This is a fact.

While many Humboldt County locals would prefer to see marijuana remain illegal in order to continue to profit from the black market, I disagree. Even though our local economy would suffer, I don't think it's worth the success my local friends are having when it is at the expense of those who are behind bars, on probation, or are otherwise being held down by marijuana prohibition.

In fact, this black market of marijuana enthusiasts may be a hindrance to the passage of this bill. I am curious to know if it would pass in Humboldt County.

I hope that it would, as I believe the Humboldt Nation is more about social justice than making money.

Go Senator Jim Webb!!

Senator Webb may be THE political leader when it comes to drug policy reform. He is working hard in congress to make changes and gaining popularity.



To get an idea of what he is up to in an easy-read... look at this article in Parade, the mini magazine insert that goes in Sunday papers around the country.

http://webb.senate.gov/email/incardocs/parade_jimwebb.pdf



He introduced The National Criminal Justice Commission Act of 2009 in the Senate on March 26, 2009 .



He has created the "Blue Ribbon Commission", an 18 month program to address the inequalities, injustices, poor budgeting, and all of the other problems surrounding our current criminal justice and prison system.



http://webb.senate.gov/email/incardocs/FactSheeti.pdf



Exerpt:

"Why We Urgently Need this Legislation:
With 5% of the world's population, our country now houses 25% of the world's reported prisoners.

Incarcerated drug offenders have soared 1200% since 1980.

Four times as many mentally ill people are in prisons than in mental health hospitals.

Approximately 1 million gang members reside in the U.S., many of them foreign-based; and Mexican cartels operate in 230+ communities across the country.

Post-incarceration re-entry programs are haphazard and often nonexistent, undermining public safety and making it extremely difficult for ex-offenders to become full, contributing members of society. "

If video is more your thing, here is a quick overview of Webb's project on YouTube!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8WRc8LPMe4I Check it out! This is exciting!

LEAP

LAW ENFORCEMENT AGAINST PROHIBITION

Many people who have had experience in the field waging the "War on Drugs" know that it is a fruitless battle.

www.leap.cc

is a website where current and former officers have organized to become politically involved in creating more human solutions for drug users.

Criminalizing Poverty

POOR PEOPLE are targeted by law enforcement and fast-tracked towards incarceration....

They CAN'T AFFORD LAWYERS
They get TARGETED in their NEIGHBORHOODS
They CAN'T REBOUND from FINES
They CAN'T POST BAIL
The incarcerated poor are often MINORITIES
They are OFTEN MENTALLY ILL and UNINSURED
When they get out, they are FOREVER ENTANGLED in the SYSTEM

Below I have outlined the highlights from:

October 13, 2009: “Criminalizing” Poverty, By Tracy Velázquez, Executive Director, Justice Policy Institute

http://spotlightonpoverty.org/ExclusiveCommentary.aspx?id=5f13e0fe-a47d-4ce4-a945-187fc331e81d

How Public Policies Result in the Over-Incarceration of Low-Income Communities in America

NEIGHBORHOODS:
"America over-polices the poor. It makes sense that places with more crime would have a stronger police presence than communities with less. However, more policing in low-income areas results in more arrests and incarceration for offenses that would likely be handled informally or not at all in another neighborhood. "

RACE
"...component of over-policing is race... between January 2006 and September 2007, “random” frisks by New York City police included 453,042 blacks and only 94,530 whites. However, with race and income so closely intertwined, it is often difficult to separate the two. And the result is still that low-income individuals are more often the target of police attention, which means more are arrested and move deeper into the criminal justice system."

REPRESENTATION
".. However, individuals of lower income generally don’t choose their lawyer; one is assigned by the court. Or one should be, anyway; unfortunately, over one in four people in jail charged with misdemeanor offenses reported not having been represented by counsel. ..many work in conditions they describe as “assembly line justice.” ... many public defenders have barely met their client before they have to go into court and defend them... People who can afford a private attorney are less likely to go to state prison. "

BAIL
".. generally the same people who can’t afford to post bond. .. Currently, more than 60 percent of people in jails across the country have not been convicted of any offense. The inability to post bond not only makes it harder for people accused of crimes to meet with their lawyer and talk to people who might be able to aid in their defense, it also makes it harder to hold down their job and maintain custody of their children—even though they are still considered innocent. "

MENTAL ILLNESS
"Adult and juvenile correctional facilities are now among the country’s largest providers of mental health care...the Los Angeles County Jail is now the largest mental health facility in the country ...The manifestations of untreated mental illness often lead to behaviors that draw the attention of police—public order offenses that often accompany homelessness, crises that cause law enforcement to intervene, and “self-medicating” with alcohol and illegal drugs. "

RELEASE
"Currently, one in 31 people in the United States is under correctional supervision—whether in prison or jail, or on parole or probation. And millions more have a felony record that will never be erased, creating hardships for those trying to regain their lives and be a productive member of their community. ...people leaving prison...vulnerable to homelessness, often banned from federal housing... and lack the funds to afford available housing. Often, the obligations of parole fees and years of child support that went unpaid during their period of incarceration make it almost impossible to become economically successful.

"Policymakers continue to incarcerate millions of people, most of whom would not be in the system if there were more adequate resources in their communities. How can this situation be addressed, so that poverty and prison aren’t inevitably intertwined?"

Does prison work?
Does it change people and prevent crime?
Is punishment an effective way to change people's behavior?

I recently read "On the Effectiveness of Prison as Punishment" by Stuart Henry, Ph.D. from http://www.is.wayne.edu/stuarthenry/Effectiveness_of_Punishment.htm

This is what I learned:

"Psychological research on punishment in has shown that mild punishment can be effective in changing behavior, but the evidence is less clear about the effectiveness of severe punishment. Effectiveness of punishment is increased by:
1. Frequency of application
2. Immediacy of application
3. Punishment used in conjunction with positive reinforcement of pro-social behavior

However, punishment, especially in its severe form has several negative effects:
1. Avoidance or escape
2. Alienation of those punished, to the point of inaction
3. Aggressiveness, both targeted and generalized, by those punished
4. Conditioning of the punishers through rewarding them for behavioral change
5. Reproducing punishment behavior in those punished"

Looking at the incarceration of drug offenders, punishment is not a good strategy to use according to this research. First, punishment for the crime is not frequent, immediate, or used along with positive reinforcement for desired behaviors. Also, punishment promotes a gap between offenders and society in the forms of alienation, avoidance, and resentment.

Booming Business: PRIVATE PRISONS

PROFITTING from PRIVATE PRISONs

First, let me suggest...
Go to Google Videos to see:
NOW on PBS 419 Prisons for Profit

According to a NY Times article in 1995 private prisons housed 2% of the prison population and business was booming.http://www.nytimes.com/1995/08/12/nyregion/despite-setbacks-a-boom-in-private-prison-business.html

In this article, it was wisely noted that PEOPLE WHO RUN PRISONS SHOULD WANT TO EMPTY THEM, BUT PEOPLE WHO ARE PROFITTING FROM PRISONS NEED TO KEEP THEM FULL.

NOW, according to a 2008 report by the DOJ, an additional 5% of the prison population is housed in private facilities, or 7% of the 1.5 million in prison. http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/nij/journals/259/prison-privatization.htm





The Forbes website, a magazine about money, has a great article from which I will highlight a few quotes:

"The prison industry has a perverse incentive to keep the inmate population growing...."

"Federal and state governments spend more than $35 billion a year to lock up a greater portion of the population--one out of 138 Americans--than any other country on earth."

"Where are the financial incentives for prisons to properly perform their rehabilitative function?If anything, the captains of the incarceration industry have a perverse incentive to rehabilitate as few people as possible and keep business booming."

"...the system is so broken that the very people we entrust to rehabilitate prisoners actually profit from prolonged prisoner stays and quick prisoner returns."

"...the correctional officers union in California. This union has become one of the state's top political contributors. It has pushed not just for higher wages but for tougher laws and longer sentences."

"We now have a system that is divorced from its original purpose, which is to ensure neighborhood security, not job security."

"California spends $7.4 billion a year on prisons, more than on all its four-year colleges and universities combined. Nearly a dime out of every state dollar goes into California prisons, which house 170,000 inmates."

"How can we justify continuing to spend $40,000 to $100,000 annually per inmate in neighborhoods where we spend less than $9,000 per pupil?"


"If a community-based program can do a better job at keeping people out of prison with dimes than incarcerators have been doing with dollars, let's reallocate those funds."

AMEN to that!!

Drug Offenses in the Bush Family

Drugs seem to be a part of the human condition, because even the Bush family partakes at times.

No, I'm not talking about W's famous coke use.

According to CNN in 2002, Noelle Bush attempted to obtain Xanax with a fake prescription and was arrested.

http://archives.cnn.com/2002/US/01/29/jeb.bush.daughter.drugs/

While in rehab, she was found to be in possession of 2 grams of cocaine according to another article. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeb_Bush

Even though this was her second drug related offense, Noelle received only 10 days in jail.

Within a five minute google search of case law I found that a man named Leon Wiley was sentenced to 10 years for possession of 1.6 grams of watered down coke, or crack--which is simply cocaine and baking soda cooked together.

http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=mo&vol=/appeals/082002/&invol=4080602_2002

LESSON: THERE IS NO CONSISTENCY OR JUSTICE IN OUR DRUG LAWS. IT'S ALL ABOUT WHO YOU ARE, WHO YOU KNOW, WHAT COLOR YOUR SKIN IS, and WHAT KIND OF LAWYER YOU CAN AFFORD

Women in Prison for Drug Crimes

The American Civil Liberties Union put out a heartbreaking publication that depicts the current situation with women in jail for drugs:

CAUGHT IN THE NET http://www.aclu.org/images/asset_upload_file431_23513.pdf

I recommend reading this document because it is very well thought out and comprehensive. Not only does it give basic facts and figures, it also gives personal stories and describes the domino effect, or the collateral damage, when you put a woman in jail.

Can you imagine living a lifestyle where selling drugs, or living with a drug dealer, was the only was you could get by?

Or maybe you got hooked and later got caught.

I don't believe that any woman really feels proud that her life has led her to be a dealer or to be addicted to drugs.

Nor do I think that any woman wants to have her children taken from her, or to give birth in jail and have her infant taken by the state.

Unfortunately, right now there is a woman somewhere giving birth to a baby and having that baby taken away by strangers.

There is a woman somewhere who was transferred to a different state to go to prison and hasn't seen her own children in years.

There is even a woman being raped in prison, with no one to believe her or care.

Many of these women are in prison because of their affiliation with men who committed crimes, but were not themselves profitting from drug sales.

Main points of the article:

*1997 incarceration cost:$26,000 per year

(or at least $52,000 per year for a woman with children in foster care)

*1997 cost of drug treatment: $6,800 residential per year

26K for a pointless excercise in punishment or 6.8K for real treatment? Hmmmm.

Do you want to pay for that? I can think of better ways to spend that 19.2K!!! How about child care, grants for college, or treatment for victims of domestic violence?

*2003: 58% of women in federal prisons were non-violent drug offenders

Drugs are definitely the main cause of women being behind bars.

"Researchers
consistently have found high levels of past
and current physical and emotional abuse in
the lives of women drug abusers."

Women are abused and turned to drugs, and then go to prison to have the message that they are worthless further pounded into their heads.

Women have barriers to seeking drug treatment:

"First, many would be forced to leave their children in the care of relatives or friends. Second, obtaining treatment requires them to disclose their drug use..."

By doing either one of the above, a woman risks the custody of her children.

WOMEN OF COLOR ARE DISPROPORTIONATELY REPRESENTED IN PRISON!

One glaring example: In New York, women of color make up about a third of the general population. However, only 10 percent of the women in jail are white!

At least 65% of women in prison have a child.

Isn't the damage done to the child more criminal than the crime done by the mother???

PLEASE GO TO THE ARTICLE TO READ MORE!

NY Times and WA Post

According to articles by the NY Times and the Washington Post in 2008, America imprisons more people than any other country.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/23/world/americas/23iht-23prison.12253738.html



http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2008/02/28/ST2008022803016.html



We had 2.3 million people imprisoned at the time these articles were written.

This number consitutes a fourth of the world's prison population!



Other interesting statistics cited:



*One in 9 black men are in jail between the ages of 20 to 34.

*751 for every 100,000 Americans (all ages) are incarcerated versus 151 in 100,000 for England.

*Prisoners cost citizens $55 billion a year... what is that?
55,000,000,000 divided by 300,000,000 is about $183 that every man woman and child in the US pays to keep people in prison. That doesn't include parole or probation or policing efforts or the impact of lost workers in the community.



The Bureau of Justice Statistics website is a great place to find reports regarding prison rates.

"Prison and Jail Inmates at Midyear 2002" can be found online at: http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/abstract/pjim02.htm

Drugs are bad...m'kay?

In looking at the mass incarceration of drug offenders and the related loss of public money, loss of fathers and mothers in families, loss of community members, and loss of so many other things, I think it all goes back to and stems from morals. People are in jail because they used, possessed, manufactured, or sold drugs. As a society, why do we care about that?
Everyone has decided that drugs are bad. Why are they bad? They are bad because people use them. What happens that is bad when drugs are used? I think the general consensus is that: People are lazy, go crazy, or turn to the dark side.
I think that these are some of the commonly held beliefs out there:
Pot is bad because people are lazy or become forgetful or stupid.
Hard drugs like cocaine and heroin are bad because people lose their minds and commit crimes like prostitution, robbery, and murder in order to get more drugs.
Exstacy is bad because it will make you party too much and have sex with people.
Meth is bad because it makes you unhealthy and crazy.
All illegal drug users are neglectful to their families and communities.

My question is, why do we care what someone does to their own body or to their own life?
Ideas:
1. We care because drug abusers cost us money.
2. We care because drug users are a threat to our safety.
3. We won't allow people to do damage to themself.
4. We care because it is hedonistic.

Idea #1 can't be right, because we gladly spend half of the federal prison budget and a third of the state budget on incarcerating drug offenders. Each prisoner costs us between 20 to 40 thousand dollars a year, depending on the facility.

Idea #2 has some merit. Just like drunk people, people that are high often make poor decisions. However, most of the threat is created by the illegal nature of drugs. Any time there is a black market for something, there is the associated violence that comes with it. I do believe that some people are so unfamiliar with drugs that they are terrified of people that use them and would prefer to have these people behind bars.

Idea #3 is strange to me. Why can't adults decide for themselves what they want to do or what kind of life they want to live? This idea seems wrong. Smoking is legal, alcohol is legal, Burger King is legal... obviously we don't regulate the other ways that people can kill themself.

Idea #4 Could the idea that pleasure seeking is wrong play into our policies on drugs? Our Christian roots might influence our laws. Sex for pleasure is wrong. Lust is wrong. Greed, sloth, gluttony... these are sins. Drug use for the purpose of selfish pleasure seems to fit nicely in that SIN category.

Conclusion:I think that ideas of right and wrong and morals get intertwined with drug policy. This doesn't seem right in a country that promotes free thinking and freedom of religion.