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.

Incarcerated drug offenders are wasting our funds

My friend Shannon pointed out an interesting class that will be offered at Humboldt State University in November. It is called the Prison Industrial Complex and is about the booming prison business.

Given that the USA has one in a hundred people in some form of custody, be it jail or prison, and that we 'lead' the world with the highest number of people per capita incarcerated, I am very interested in taking this course and learning more.

Last semester my classmate and I studied the policy behind mandatory minimum sentencing for drug offenses. This is a policy that is clearly a contributing factor to the financial gains of investors in the prison industry.

Not only is the War on Drugs totally ineffective, but with the financial state of our country, this mass incarceration of non-violent offenders makes no business sense.

California must release non-violent offenders from prisons, parole, and probation. .. THIS IS THE LINE OF THINKING THAT KEEPS RUNNING THROUGH MY MIND.... one of the topics I will look into more deeply......