What is this, Bizarro-World?

November 26, 2003 10:34 PM

The War on Drugs hasn't been working at all well. So let's make it even less sensible: harsher penalties, invasion of privacy, all that jazz. The proposal is surreal, but fits in with the rest of US Drug Policy: rapists aren't denied federal funds for post-secondary schooling, but pot-heads are; you can spend more time in jail for dealing weed than for murder; gonna deal pot, ya might as well deal speed, it's the same jailtime. And now... let's encourage dealers to sell pot with more carcinogenic tars! [link goes to NORML, possibly NSFW, danger: encourages political activism]
posted by five fresh fish (16 comments total)

I sent the link to the editor of our local paper. Maybe it'll be the seed for an editorial.
posted by wsg at 10:48 PM on November 26, 2003

Key points:

- removes judge's ability to use their best judgement in determining sentencing. Mandatory sentencing was initially targeted at kingpins and distributors. Now it'll apply to everyone, regardless of circumstance, age, previous convictions, or quantity!

- make everyone who's ever been convicted of anything subject to random drug testing!

- make the penalty stiffer the stronger the potency. Makes those medical users choke down more poisonous tars. It's the Lung Cancer Promotion Act!

This is the same Rep. Mark Souder (R-IN) who was responsible for the asinine bill that ended up making it impossible for anyone busted selling pot (using pot?) from ever receiving federal financial assistance for post-secondary education. You can beat your kids, rape a woman, kill a man, or start a land war in Asia, and still seek forgiveness and a chance to start your life over... but don't you dare partake of that demon weed!

Anyway, thought ya'd like to know. Do send your beef to your reps; it's the only way to keep your country sane.
posted by five fresh fish at 10:50 PM on November 26, 2003

Well, it's an American thing so a) it doesn't surprise me and, b) it doesn't affect me, but I gotta say, that Mark Souder guy must be baked.
posted by sharpener at 10:54 PM on November 26, 2003

...and before I get jumped on I should, perhaps, clarify that I mean an American *legislative* thing. Not looking to paint everyone with the same brush. But I maintain that, from my perspective, sometimes it seems like some of the US government officials have been smoking some of the very stuff they rail against.
posted by sharpener at 10:58 PM on November 26, 2003

Hey, well googling 'round for information on this Souder guy, and the Drug Reform Act, and all that jazz, and came across this interesting site (link takes you to a message re: Sen. Ed Kennedy's bill to revoke the bill that makes it impossible for a kid busted with even a single joint to ever get support from the federal Higher Education Act (no pun intended, I'm sure) post-secondary assistance program.)

Anyway, looks like it's a huge general-purpose drug education / information / forums / etc site. Disclaimer: I have no idea what it covers or whether any of it is trustworthy!
posted by five fresh fish at 11:31 PM on November 26, 2003

sometimes it seems like some of the US government officials have been smoking some of the very stuff they rail against.

No no no. They're all bitter, angry and obsessive. It's got to be ol' Colombian Marching Powder.

These ideas are really bad. The drug war is truly a war of attrition - surely someone out there in the US legislature realizes that the "war" isn't being won and that alternative measures might just be worth trying? I'm writing from a place where being caught with a non-sellable amount of weed isn't even a criminal offense - I'm disturbed to think of the impact if all the people I know who've been caught with pot in their teen years had been essentially denied university education.
posted by Jimbob at 11:43 PM on November 26, 2003

Okay, when I graduate I'm going to move to some country with a) a nice climate and b) a sensible drug policy.
So the US is right out.
Any suggestions?
posted by spazzm at 11:57 PM on November 26, 2003

South Australia, spazzm! The drug policy isn't that sensible though...there's a lot of pressure from the federal government to follow the US's lead, but at the moment it's better than most places.
posted by Jimbob at 12:01 AM on November 27, 2003

Not just South Australia Jimbob: "In a few weeks, Western Australia will become the latest state to decriminalise dope. South Australia opened the gates when it decriminalised cannabis in 1987, followed by Northern Territory in 1996 and ACT in 1992. The remaining states have prohibition with cautioning schemes for small amounts of possession. They are still watching the decriminalisation experiment unfold in other states." Taken from a recent article in The Age about hydroponic dope growing and its popularity.
posted by Onanist at 1:29 AM on November 27, 2003

spazzm:Did you know that Miguel is actually an old Etonian called Nigel Cholmondley-Fortesque who moved to Portugal for exactly the conditions you describe?
posted by biffa at 2:47 AM on November 27, 2003

So it's Portugal or (certain parts of) Australia. Tempting, tempting...

Where can I get the cheapest broadband?
posted by spazzm at 4:03 AM on November 27, 2003

Where can you get the cheapest port?
posted by biffa at 4:13 AM on November 27, 2003

'Pot Smokers Are Potential Customers, Not Criminals'
posted by magullo at 4:21 AM on November 27, 2003

Whoo Hoo! More conscripts for the new US prison slave labour industry which will help the US to compete with the Chinese prison slave labour industry !

* Boldly marching into the future,we are marching, marching towards.....*
posted by troutfishing at 5:07 AM on November 27, 2003

But how else can these politicians appear like they're doing something to deserve their salaries, unless they're pounding on a low-threat/harmless but (importantly) voiceless underclass, so their core voters can see they're hitting that morally loathed group, hard, and earning their keep?

C'mon, give these politicians a break. They have a tough job to do, justifying their existence: someone's gotta get hurt.
posted by Blue Stone at 5:38 AM on November 27, 2003

In the seventies you cleaned the seeds out of your dope. Now, you're gonna have to put them in to make it look like low grade. (Picture your atty raising an affirmative defense of shwag in court)

Historical aside: In the early sevenites, Owsley would make LSD by the barrel-full. Then he'd die it blue and put it in a tide laundry detergent jug and toss it and a laod of laundry in the back seat of his car as camouflage while he made deliveries.
posted by Fupped Duck at 9:30 AM on November 27, 2003