Kenders' Musings

There is something seriously wrong in this country.

Linked in the title is a story on a report called "Caught in the Net: the Impact of Drug Policies on Women & Families. This report, co authored by the ACLU, a group called Break The Chains and The Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law compiled research on the effects of the drug laws on women and children.

This is going to be a short post, because what I have to say on this is clear, level headed and bound to piss off some of the whiners out there that have no common sense and too damned much empathy.

First some bits from the story.

Lenora Lapidus, Director of the ACLU Women’s Rights Project ahs this to say on the drug laws today, "We’ve gone from being a nation of latchkey kids to a nation of locked-up moms, where women are the invisible prisoners of drug laws, serving hard time for someone else’s crime,"

Whose crimes are these women serving time for? Do these authors expect me to believe, without citing anything, that there is a huge number of women in this country serving time, hard time at that, for someone elses crimes?

Aint happenin' folks....neither the droves of women wrongfully serving time OR me believing that pantload.

She goes on to say;

"Family values ought to mean keeping families together. Treatment can cure drug addiction, but there’s no cure for a family destroyed."

hhhmmm...let me point out a couple of key phrases in that sentence.

"Family Values".....How about these family values?

DON"T USE DRUGS!!!!!!!

This is a simple premise, and I personally consider people that use drugs to the point of ruining not only their own life, but that of their family, especially their children, to be weak individuals, but NOT weak in the sense that they need "rehabilitation" but weak in the sense that they have absolutely no sense of CONSEQUENCES!!!!!

There is always some wrongheaded leftist, such as the ACLU, saying "It isn't your fault you got hooked on crack mr/ms victim, if society weren't against you you would never have used an illegal drug at all."

The Victim Mentality...nothing is my fault.

According to this report the number of women in jail, prison etc. increased 888% from 1986 to 1999....now this report posits the idea that it is the drug laws that caused this.

I however think that perhaps, just maybe, it could be because of either;
A) The authorities have gotten wiser and less discriminatory about women and crime, (which would be a good thing right? We don't want cops simply dismissing someone as a suspect because of their gender and societal standards that say "women aren't druglords" do we?)..or it could be;
B)More women are committing these crimes and getting caught for it, which just steps right back into "A".

Over all the report says, (without differentiating drug crimes from other crimes), that there are one million women in the system in one form or another, (jail, prison, parole etc.) and they call this a travesty?

We have almost 300 million people in this country, of which there are about 108,133,727 women over the age of 18. That is less than a one percent chance if you are a woman that you are sitting in jail or otherwise involved in the wrong end of our penal system.

Now the ACLU, in fighting for loosening the drug laws in this country never once exhorts people to follow the law. This is one of the major problems with the ACLU.

(Side note here: Having been to Santa Cruz CA., and knowing the college scene there, I find it very amusing that the ACLUs' Drug Law Reform Project is based there.)

They are a big group of "Criminal Enablers" and I think the whole bunch of 'em need therapy and lots of meds.

They would have us decriminalize drugs, releasing the scourge of a full on drug culture on us, with no concern with the fact that the people you need sober to do their jobs, (like cops, air traffic controllers...well, just about everyone that isn't an "artist" or a holder of a "liberal arts degree") would get a new set of rules put in place for them once the first one screwed up at work, most likely causing a death, with that very same ACLU jumping to their defense saying "It isn't Mr. Weakwills fault...the drugs were there, they are legal, and if you fire him or try to prosecute him you are trampling on his rights.

I bet it would never occur to the ACLU at that point to think, "Jeez, we got these laws changed....maybe this was a bad idea."

This report goes on to say that the cost of rehab is substantially less than incarceration....well....FUCKING DUH!!!!

Problem is that rehab only works when the rehabee WANTS it to work and most people will seek that service out if they make it to that point.

The problem isn't the drug laws....it is the law breakers.

The problem isn't "Rehab"...it is lack of PUNISHMENT.

I could sit here for awhile talking bullet points on this report, but I won't. I promised you a short post, and you can read, (unless you are a DU member) and you can draw your own conclusions here, (see above remark about the DU'ers)

My purpose in pointing this report out was simply to say that the cure we are proposing is a bad idea.

People that use drugs do need help, but they need to be punished also. Gently the first time....but much harsher after that.

Now this report does bring up some good points about the way the laws are used and written......but fix the laws to punish the guilty....don't legalize the drugs....legalizing drugs to "fix" the drug problems in America is like amputating someones arm for a hangnail.

'Nuff Said!!!