I am so damned glad to see that there seems to be some progress being made in regards to sending people to prison for low level drug offenses and the like, that I am giddy!
So it turns out, that was basically the impetus behind his visit; to announce an initiative to start undoing some of the damage that this stupid damned "War on Drugs" is causing. Regardless of political party it now seems that there is growing agreement on both sides of the aisle that the path we are currently on is doing lots of damage and costing way more money than other options.
There's already bi-partisan support for a bill that is being introduced in the House to change sentencing structure and penalties. Anyone who considers even a portion of their political philosophy to lean towards "libertarian" should be celebrating this fact. We're way past due.
Now, if we can only get all the politicians in the US to focus their eyes across the Atlantic at Portugal and learn a lesson from them that there exists a vastly superior way to deal with the issue of illegal drugs. Stop trying to treat it like a Law and Order issue through the Criminal Justice system and start dealing with it as a matter of Public Health Policy through a Portuguese style approach. Their decade long experiment makes it very clear that their approach is solid and produces great results. I just wish this country could be just as smart.
http://news.yahoo.com/prison-sentencing-reform-bipartisan-efforts-headway-congress-235320171.html
Now if the lobbyist from the For-Profit Prison Industry don't get a chance to derail the proposed reforms, we'll be making some progress.
