Virginia Senator Jim Webb thinks that we should consider reforming marijuana laws as part of an overall reform of criminal justice:
The leader of a congressional effort to reform the criminal justice system said Thursday that all issues — including drug legalization — need to be on the table.
Sen. Jim Webb (D-Va.), who has made criminal justice and prison reform a signature issue of his this year in Congress, is the most high-profile lawmaker to indicate openness to drug decriminalization or outright legalization.
“Well, I think what we need to do is to put all of the issues on the table,” Webb said this morning on CNN if asked if marijuana legalization would be part of his criminal justice reform efforts.
“If you go back to 1980 as a starting point, I think we had 40,000 people in prison on drug charges, and today, we have about 500,000 of them,” the first-term Virginia lawmaker said. “And the great majority of those are nonviolent crimes — possession crimes or minor sales.”
(…)
“I think they should examine every aspect of drugs policy to see what’s working and what’s not working, and where the consistencies are and, quite frankly, where the inconsistencies are in terms of how people end up in the system with similar activities,” Webb explained, reiterating his call for a high-level blue ribbon commission to reform the criminal justice system.
Sounds like a very good idea to me.
Makes so much sense that it’ll never happen. Keep filling the jails!
seriously? leagalizing it will solve SO many problems. it should have been legalized a LOOONG time ago. we should at least be able to get it in sanitary ways and not be charged for having it, its for recreation and does less damage then drinking liquor.. seriously people, think about it.. things would be way easier if we just let them have their weed and smoke it too..!!
It’s way past time to legalize it, tax it and fix the damage that the Republicans caused. Better yet, let’s outlaw Republicans, while we’re at it. Those guys are nothing but crooks.
seriously? leagalizing it will solve SO many problems. it should have been legalized a LOOONG time ago.
It seems we are all in agreement….this is no surprise to me.
However, there seem to be some vested corporate interests (those that build prisons, those that run them) and some governmental interests (police departments and the drug enforcement agency love to confiscate property for extra money for their departments) that are against it.
So the people want this? Hopefully we will stand up and be counted…then maybe this issue will have a chance and the tax payer will save a fortune. And people will have FREEDOM to CHOOSE…..
Buzz…Buzz…
Alcohol is 5 Times Deadlier than All Illegal Drugs Combined!
Prison Reform NEEDS TO Seriously Consider Legalizing Cannabis!
Total Alcohol and Tobacco Deaths per Year (U.S. Only): 520,000 deaths – over one-half million dead Americans.
All Illicit Drug Use, Direct and Indirect Deaths per Year (U.S. Only): 17,000 deaths.
All Illicit Drug Use, Direct and Indirect (yes, this would include Methamphetamines, Cocaine, Crack, Heroin, etc. – all hard drugs and soft drugs – all illegal drugs) deaths compared to the annual deaths caused just by Alcohol and Tobacco = 0.03269. This means that all illegal drug use put together is less than 03.27% as harmful as Alcohol and Tobacco use. Wow!
Deaths per year caused by the two legal drugs, Alcohol and Tobacco, are over 30 times more than all illegal drugs combined! Even with 30 times the total number of hard drug users in the U.S. the death rate would still be lower than the annual U.S. Alcohol and Tobacco death rate!
Now let’s look at just the deaths due to Alcohol: 85,000 deaths. 17,000 (All illegal drugs) / 85,000 (Alcohol) = 0.2. This means that all illegal drug use combined is only 20% as harmful as Alcohol use. So – Alcohol accounts for 5 times more deaths per year than all illegal drugs combined! Wow again! – Put that in your beer mug and drink it!
So when you hear a Drug Warrior say that “Legalizing Cannabis sends the Wrong Message to our children” – “The Message” that they are really telling our children is that (when the children reach legal age) they will NOT be allowed to use a safe recreational drug like Cannabis but they Will be allowed to use Alcohol as a recreational drug, even though legal alcohol kills 5 times more people per year than Methamphetamines, Cocaine, Crack, Heroin and all of the worst illegal drugs combined!
Now let’s look at Cannabis.
For those who do not know, Cannabis is the genus name for the very common plant that Harry Anslinger called “Marijuana”, so that he could confuse/trick the public into thinking that Cannabis was some new type of dangerous drug as well as to use racism in quest for criminalization back in the 30’s. (I refuse to use Harry Anslinger’s derogatory terminology)
Total Cannabis Deaths throughout All of Recorded History (Worldwide): 0!!!. Usage of Cannabis (Marijuana) has never killed anybody – ever!
Hmm, we can’t even get a percentage of Cannabis Deaths (0) compared to Alcohol and Tobacco Deaths (85,000) since Cannabis has never ever killed anybody can we?
So – Alcohol and Tobacco kill over a half million Americans in one year and Cannabis has never killed anybody (in the whole world – ever), yet we allow the U.S. Government to support the Alcohol and Tobacco industry while they arrest us, put us in cages and steal our homes/cars/money for using Cannabis – a safe alternative to Alcohol?
The Pharmaceutical Industry also “pushes” many extremely deadly poisons that could easily be replaced by Cannabis and Cannabis Derived Drugs. “Adverse Reactions to Prescription Drugs” kill around twice as many people per year as “All Illicit Drug Use Combined” – and that Cannabis use has never killed anyone!
I wonder how many people die yearly from Alcohol and Tobacco who would prefer Cannabis instead? Cannabis is a completely safe alternative to Alcohol. Alcohol almost killed me. I would love to use Cannabis as a substitute for the deadly drug Alcohol! The problem is that I live in a country where Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness is NOT possible – I live in the United States of America – Freedom is NOT an option here. The American public is completely terrorized by the U.S. DEA.
Terrorism is, most simply, policy intended to intimidate or cause terror. It is more commonly understood as an act which (1) is intended to create fear (terror), (2) is perpetrated for an ideological goal (as opposed to a materialistic goal or a lone attack), and (3) deliberately targets (or disregards the safety of) non-combatants. (Wikipedia)
Therefore, the U.S. DEA, who break into peoples homes, incarcerate people for exercising their Constitutional Freedom to use Cannabis as a safe alternative to Alcohol (or even as medicine), revoke student aids, separate families, cost people their jobs, take their driving privileges, take their homes, take their right to vote, and kill family pets, are indeed Terrorists! We need our government to dismantle the U.S. supported and funded American Terrorism Group also known as the U.S. DEA. We the People are PAYING for our own Terrorization with our own taxes!
The U.S. – with 5% of the world’s population – cages 25% of the world’s population caged population. Many of the people who are kept in cages should not be. Many people who are forced to live in cages and suffer the brutality of the American Prison System are otherwise law abiding citizens who have simply exercised their Constitutional Right of Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.
Legalize Cannabis Now!
Finally, a VA politician with the courage to stand up and admit there is a problem with the war on drugs.