A World Gone Mad

By Ronald W. Rose United States Magistrate Judge
In Police News Spring 94

Twenty years ago as a young prosecutor, my job was to put people in jail
for dealing in drugs. As a result, many were convicted. I was absolutely
certain that vigorous enforcement and long jail terms was the way to go.
I had every confidence that throwing resources, manpower, additional
judges, mandatory minimum sentences, life without parole, etc., etc.,
etc., would soon solve the problem.

Within a few months, I tried another drug case involving the largest (at
that time~ cocaine seizure in the history of Florida - 23 pounds. It was
front page news for days. These defendants were likewise convicted and
are probably still in prison. Has this solved anything? In my opinion,
absolutely nothing was accomplished, except I got to chalk up another
victory at a cost to the taxpayers of thousands of dollars each year,
for clothing and feeding these dregs of society.

Instead of seizing pounds of cocaine, we now seize buildings full of the
stuff. The drug lords in South America are laughing at us all the way to
the bank. They know that for every mule or mid-level dealer we take out,
there are fifty more waiting to take their place. There is just so much
money to be made that the slim chance of being caught is always worth
the risk. Believe me, after twenty years as a prosecutor and judge, I
can assure you that we only catch the stupid ones.

In disadvantaged neighborhoods, drug dealers are the local heroes. Every
kid in the ghetto wants to be one. These children see it as a way out of
their despair and poverty. They can make more selling "crack" cocaine,
in one afternoon, than a hard working person with a job can make in a
week. I customarily speak with DEA agents who visit my office for search
warrants. Their attitude is universally one of despair. They spend
entire careers believing each day they come to work that their presence
makes a difference, but the problem gets worse no matter what they do.
It is getting worse in logarithmic proportions. We already have more
people in jail, per capita, than any other country on earth (About five
times as many per capita).

We used to ignore the battlefield carnage of the street gangs, as they
were only killing each other in their own neighborhoods. Now theses same
gangs are coming out of their ghettos. They are increasingly taking
their act on the road. One new tactic is to cruise the freeways at night
looking for wealthy individuals who they can follow home, brutalize,
rape and pillage, all for the sake of supporting a drug habit.

Year after year we are treated to the same tired political solutions. We
now have a "drug czar." Whoop-de-do! The first one got his picture taken
a few hundred times, gave a few speeches, declared victory and resigned.
We have spent decades throwing more judges into the system, adding
prosecutors, investigators, building prisons (but not in my backyard),
using the military, and in short spending an incredible bundle of money.
We have nothing to show for it but a bunch of photo opportunities where
a few pounds of the stuff and some seized cash are exhibited in grand
style to demonstrate how well law enforcement does its job. The carrot
is always held out that we are turning the corner; there is a light at
the end of this tunnel. Sure.

By and large law enforcement is composed of men and women truly
dedicated to their profession - individuals who would lay their lives on
the line and often do. They have an unenviable job. Yet their function
has been reduced to stamping out cockroaches without any ability to get
to the nest. A total waste of time and energy. The drug lords love it.

My solution is not politically correct and is certainly not acceptable
to those upstanding politicians (oxymoron, sorry) we have entrusted to
make our decisions for us. It is, simply, to decriminalize the use and
possession of drugs. Not only decriminalize them, hut actually give them
away to anyone insane enough to want them.

Before anyone goes ballistic here, I do not advocate giving drugs to
children This should always be a capital offense. We have to take the
profit motive out of this Dante's Inferno that is killing us like the
Chinese "death from a thousand cuts." Prohibition did not work with
alcohol and it is not working with drugs. I harbor no illusions that
this solution is perfect, but it is essentially the only one remaining.

The Colombian cartels, the Jamaican gangs, the Ins Angeles street gangs,
and our local drug lords make the Mafia look like a troop of girl
scouts. The terror is coming to our shores, a little bit at a time, and
we just sit back and take it. Why can't we realize what is happening to
us before it is too late?

If we used the money presently being squandered to lose the drug war,
funnel it into drug treatment and education, the problem would largely
disappear in a few years. There would be no profit left. Drugs would be
free, drug lords would lose their millions and millions in profits,
corruption would all but disappear (except maybe in the Savings
and Loan industry), our elderly would not feel trapped in their homes,
and most importantly, our children would have a future free from the
specter of slaughter in their schools or having to endure the nightmare
of addiction. The present generation of drug user is probably beyond
hope.  Perhaps treatment will help, but we have to cut our loses and
protect what is left.

=============================================================================

What's up All?

Found this in t.p.d

     [michael hess] at [f48.n375.z1.fidonet.org]

"Law never made men a whit more just... and, by means of their respect for
it, even the well deposed are daily made the agents of injustice"
        --Henry David Thoreau "Civil Disobedience"

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