Thursday, June 17, 2004

Texans must be rich to want to pay for all of this. Via TalkLeft Not surprisingly, Texas has enacted another dumb, probably unconstitutional law--delivery of a controlled substance to a minor--via the womb. It's now a felony to smoke pot while pregnant --punishable by two to 20 years in prison. Alma Baker has become the first casualty of the law--receiving a five year deferred sentence for smoking pot in her backyard while pregnant with her twins. The presence of pot was discovered in their bloodstream when born. There is no established medical evidence that prenatal exposure to marijuana harms infants. So a mother smokes pot and WE shell out the cash. First, you break up the family -- so that's foster care or welfare/food stamps, etc. Then you put the mother in prison -- that's about 25 grand a year. Add in the cost of the trial. Future costs to society as children are raised without a mother. This isn't being tough on crime. This is being monumentally stupid. 9:10:10 PM | drug policy | Related  | permalink | comment []

I fear for my country. Via Chris and Sam.com comes an article in the Macomb Daily: "Sheriff gets armored vehicles" Macomb County's "newest" weapon against crime is 44 years old, weighs a beefy 10 tons, travels only 3 miles on a gallon of gas, sits 10 people uncomfortably and can flatten a house. And it's a war veteran. The Sheriff's Department on Monday took delivery of an M113 armored personnel carrier, compliments of the U.S. Army. Look at the vapid grin on Sherrif Mark Hackel's face. "It didn't cost us a dime." Wayne County Sheriff Warren Evans said the refurbished armored carriers will give deputies significant up-close protection during drug raids Oh, yeah, they love their new toys, but don't these morons have a clue as to the part they are playing in the destruction of our society? During the past three decades of this ill-conceived war on drugs, we have continued to move toward turning our police force into performing military functions, while turning our citizens into the enemy. Now we set the tanks loose on our people. If we start using these for no-knock raids (and giving our record for hitting the wrong address) you may want to look into bomb shelters for tucking your children into bed. The drug war is gradually eating away at the soul of our nation. 6:20:15 PM | drug policy | Related  | permalink | comment []