Posted by BigSm00th:
"butas far as other drugs like crack and heroin, I think the laws are right where they should be. What bull**** collars like criminal trespass and cpcs7 (narcotics possession) accomplish cant be defined in statistics. If a crackhead spends the night in jail thats one less person who wakes up in the morning to find their car windows smashed. Thats one less crackhead getting high in a stairwell of a housing development, leaving a nice pile of human feces for the residents the next day. That could be a burglary, a rape, or even a murder that was never allowed to take place. I think that many of the proponents of legalizing drugs dont have to deal with the crackheads and dopefiends that lower the quality of life in poorer neighborhoods." I mean, i agree with you, and I think if a crackhead messes up your stuff he should have to go to jail, but giving him a mandatory 3 year sentence b/c of possession is overkill. if a guy gets drunk and breaks your window he'll get a disorderly conduct? some sort of misdemeanor, he won't go to jail for 3 years minimum b/c he was drinking. i just think the mandatory minimum sentence concept must be looked at, as it puts an inordinate amount of ppl in jail for being drug addicts. if a guy routinely gets drunk and breaks things, he won't get jail time but they'll make him attend AA classes and the like, why is it different for drug addicts? ($$$)
When I am referring to "possession", I mean people who are arrested with a couple bags of crack or dope on them. This Criminal possession of a controlled substance in the 7th degree. When a dealer is arrested with 30 bags of crack on him he is charged with the higher possession charge, CPCS 5th degree or CPCS 3rd degree, both of which are felonies. In reality, unless the dealer is a repeat offender he is almost always offered a plea to reduce the charges to a misdemeanor and rehab instead of jail time. This is why you sometimes see 18 year old kids running around with ID cards for drug treatment programs. So in New York the laws really arent that draconian, in fact I really wish they were tougher.
A user will NEVER have 30 bags of crack on them. The habits are so overwhelming that they would sit somewhere and smoke until it is all gone. When someone is on the street with 20-30 bags they are hustling. And quite frankly it sucks to put a lot of time and effort in arresting a drug dealer and then seeing him released days later after a BS plea. The MAX sentence for a misdemeanor by the way is one year in jail. So for lower charges these guys are usually out the next day.
Im do believe that twe should legalize and tax marijuana. I dont agree that the government has the right to tell you that you cant use a recreational drug that at worst will make you lazy and cuase lung damage. Im not saying to anybody that weed is good for you at all, I just think that you should have the right to use if you want to.
Crack and Heroin destroy families, and we have already seen in the 1980's what can happen when drug abuse becomes prevalent to the extent that it is referred to as an epidemic. If anything we should make stiffer penalties to curb the financial appeal of drug dealing. Believe me if little johnny sees the toughest guy on the block get locked up for 2-3 years for selling a bag of crack, than little johnny will think twice when he gets older. Right now urban culture celibrates drug dealers, violence, mocks people who are scared to hold a gun. Thats fine so long as people realize that its only entertainment, but when someone crosses the line throw his ass in jail, and let him sit for a couple of years. If he does it again, lock him up for ten. I really dont have any sympathy for drugs dealers. These are the guys who will hold a building hostage for years by setting up shop right in the lobby of a residential building. The people who live there have to deal with a parade of crack heads who smoke and leave every imaginable body secretion in the stairways and elevators, they have to worry about getting robbed by the hard rock young kids who want to impress the older guys. I mean who deserves that?
And I guess by legalizing it you would eliminate the problems associated with drug dealing, as these people would be out of the loop. But I still wouldnt want to deal with the drug related crime that addicts bring to the community.
Beat the Evil Empire. BEAT MIAMI
4/27/2008 5:58 AM
