Gee...what was your first clue Sherlock?
Posted on 01/30/2003 6:38:26 AM PST by MrLeRoy
America's war on drugs is costly, ignorant and doesn't work, a federal judge said Tuesday.
Denver U.S. District Judge John Kane Jr., who has been speaking and writing against the nation's drug policy for about five years, won a standing ovation from a packed City Club luncheon at the Brown Palace Hotel.
"I don't favor drugs at all," Kane said.
"What I really am opposed to is the fact that our present policies encourage children to take drugs."
Ending the present policy of interdiction, police action and imprisonment would eliminate the economic incentives for drug dealers to provide drugs to minors, Kane said.
He said the government has no real data and no scientific basis for its approach to illegal drug use.
Since the policy began in the early 1970s, drugs have become easier to obtain and drug use has only increased, he said.
Last summer, Kane said, a friend in his 60s was being treated for cancer. The man joked to his family that he wished he knew where to get marijuana to help him bear the effects of chemotherapy.
The next day, the man's 11-year-old grandson brought him three marijuana cigarettes, Kane said.
"Don't worry, Grandpa - I don't use it myself, but if you need any more just let me know," the judge quoted the boy as saying.
Although officials vow zero tolerance for drugs, even children know that's not reality, Kane said.
"Our national drug policy is inconsistent with the nature of justice, abusive of the nature of authority, and wholly ignorant of the compelling force of forgiveness," he said. "I suggest that federal drug laws be severely cut back."
The federal government should focus on keeping illegal drugs out of the country and regulating the manufacture of drugs transported across state lines.
Each state should decide how to regulate sales and what should be legal or illegal, he said, and the emphasis for government spending should be on treatment.
Anybody have this kid's beeper number?
Funny. I was thinking the exact same thing while reading your screed.
No, that's only a small part of what we're currently doing.
Gee...what was your first clue Sherlock?
Isn't this exactly what we are currently doing?
The feds go quite a bit further, especially regarding the medical marijuana issue, where the pot does NOT cross state lines, and regarding cultivation for personal use, where no commerce occurs. And the judge recommends that the feds REGULATE drugs, not issue idiotic blanket prohibitions that usurp powers that should be left to the states.
How?
Answered in the text you quote just below.
Ending the present policy of interdiction, police action and imprisonment would eliminate the economic incentives for drug dealers to provide drugs to minors, Kane said.
Oh really. So removing penalties or punishment for illegal activity will STOP them from selling drugs to minors?
Removing penalties for selling to adults, while retaining them for selling to children, will give them an economic incentive to not sell to children---namely, the risk of losing their legal adult business.
How about following the law and not rewriting it.
Where does it say he's rewriting the law?
The federal government should focus on keeping illegal drugs out of the country and regulating the manufacture of drugs transported across state lines.
NO S&%T Sherlock. WTF do you think they are doing everyday?
That, and much else that they have no Constitutional authority to do.
And Sandra Day O'Connor was appointed by Ronald Reagan; does that make her a conservative?
She's probably a lot more conservative that your Jimmy Carter nominated "drugs are benign" "super" jurist, Judge Kane.
You don't know jack, do you, bigmouth? Do you even know what court she sits on?
Please show where Judge Kane said anything remotely like "drugs are benign"; that appears to be merely your baldfaced lie.
Testy aren't you? Oh well I guess that is what I should expect when the "elephant in the living room" is exposed on this thread, that Judge Kane is a Jimmy Carter liberal.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.