To Many Prisoners in Cali... May Have to Release Some.

[RodISHI]

Druggies was one of the major reason I moved my children out of California in 1979.

Rod....Cheech and Chong were just ACTORS.....

Yes maybe so, but I met many along the way who have been the real deal

 

[Avatar4321]

I forgot this was California we were talking about. They're pretty lenient on weed.

Some states are zero tolerance though, and you'll see some serious time for even small amounts.

Name a state where you get serious time for small amounts of marijuana. Cause I dont know one.

 

[RodISHI]

How many of you personally know someone who has been jailed for drug use?



Plus do any of you know recovered addicts?

Yes, I do to both. Actually, there is no such thing as a recovered drug addict, the same as their is no such thing as a recovered alcoholic. They are constantly recovering and must avoid the temptation to go back the source of their addiction.

It is the same as it is for alcholics for some. I know a former heroin addict very well. Sweet lady. She says she thanks God everyday that she was able to overcome. She's been clean for over twenty-five years. I known others from when I was younger that died or committed suicide before they ever got that chance.

Here in Iowa Meth is a big deal or has been in the past. I have not been around too many people here for the last five years.

One guy Rod grew up with has had his share of problems with it. In hearing him talk his life went to crap when his dad died. He was adopted and had issues that it took him years to overcome.

My dad was here one year helping me build a rock wash plant and the guy had been helping us from time to time, (heck of a mechanic, Rod was teaching him to operate the big equipment). His mom showed up at our door asking if we would help bail him out of jail. She was short five hundred dollars.

My policy had always been no bailouts for employees that got in such trouble when they did whatever knowing it was illegal. Dad like the guy and told me to put up the money. (He is a softy) I did it even though it was against my better judgment. Ended up the guy was on the local law enforcements shit list. You can imagine where that left me with local law enforcement. I was not popular here to begin with. I rented my houses to people here that evidently no one else would.... (Handicap parapeligic, mixed race couple, a sexually disoriented tranvestite moved in to one rental I had actually rented to another person. And so on)

The local law enforcement (sheriff) told me one day there was no hope for the guy. I retorted without thinking, there is hope for everyone even you.

The guy ended up spending several years in one of the facilities here that is somewhat a cross between the nuthouse and jail. Evidently one of the nuts got mad at him one day. It ended up he lost all his front teeth, (can't recall for sure but I think his jaw was also broken). He told me that was the turning point for him.

Well he needed some help when he got out of jail of course and he needed a car. We had bought a car for our son from him and our son no longer used it. So we sold him back the car on a payment basis he could afford. At this point his mom had sold her place so his dad's garage that he had been able to work on cars was gone. So Rod and I both told him he could use the garage and work on anything he needed while we were gone.

It was after he had taken pictures of law enforcement breaking into our house and such he was arrested again. He told me this time that he did not do anything. The guy had always been upfront about what he had done with Rod and I. So I would have to say from personally knowing the guy he was telling the truth this time around. But we were in no position at that point to do much of anything to help him. It would be over a year before he got out that time around. The local prosecutor asked me to bring in my file for my stolen dozer. She asked me if I knew anything about the guy at that point. After looking at my files and hearing about the photos and knowing the entire circumstance of the case he had been charged in she determine for herself the guy was not guilty.

It was a month or so later he was out again. By this time his mom had Alzheimers. He worked locally for several years and no problems. Yet that same local law enforcement was always there. Rod finally got the guy on with him on a construction project and the guy still works for that same company today. He is drug free. He never was a theif, vandel or anything else. The only one he ever truly did damage too was himself and the ones he loved.

I know a lot of people seem to want to judge these people pretty harshly without ever looking at why they are where they are or why they do what they do. I very much doubt that any of those who would wish these people with problems (who are in fact human) harm, are perfect yourselves.

 

[Killuminati]

This is a real good look.

 

[garyd]

Half the people doing drugs other than mary jane are doing violent crime. No one is doing major jail time for simple possession unless there was a lot of plea bargaining prior to the sentencing.

 

[Arthur]

Plenty are in prison for drug related crimes. The three strikes law filled the prisons with untreated addicts.

 

[catzmeow]

Plenty are in prison for drug related crimes. The three strikes law filled the prisons with untreated addicts.

FAIL.

Three strikes law - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Three strikes laws are statutes enacted by state governments in the United States which require the state courts to hand down a mandatory and extended period of incarceration to persons who have been convicted of a serious criminal offense on three or more separate occasions.

I really get tired of people repeating liberal misinformation over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over again without having a ******* clue what they are talking about.

 

[catzmeow]

More on three strikes:

• The Three Strikes law significantly increases the prison sentences of persons convicted of felonies who have been previously convicted of a violent or serious felony, and limits the ability of these offenders to receive a punishment other than a prison sentence.
  
• Violent and serious felonies are specifically listed in state law. Violent offenses include murder, robbery of a residence in which a deadly or dangerous weapon is used, rape and other sex offenses; serious offenses include the same offenses defined as violent offenses, but also include other crimes such as burglary of a residence and assault with intent to commit a robbery or rape.
  
• Some states require all three felony convictions to be for violent crimes in order for the mandatory sentence to be pronounced, while others — most notably California — mandate the enhanced sentence for any third felony conviction so long as the first two felonies were deemed to be either "violent" or "serious," or both.

It is AN UTTER FALSEHOOD to imply that 3 strikes is used on non-violent drug offenders with no history of serious offenses.

Get your facts straight before posting, tardburger.

 

[ABikerSailor]

Like I said......

Legalize marijuana. If they would do that, they could drop the prison population by a HUGE amount.

And the DEA? Well, they're always bitching about losing the war on drugs because they are understaffed. Scratch cannabis off the list, and you've just reduced their workload by 50 percent. What will they do then? Go after the people who make meth, coke, heroin, etc.

Leave the plants alone though. That means psycilycibin mushrooms, peyote buttons, etc. After all, it says in the Bible that "if it grows out of the ground, you may have it", which is what God told Moses on Sinai.

Matter of fact, cannabis was used in the Holy Annointing Oil, which is what they used as part of ceremonies for the Kings of Israel.

Not only that, but we could get off oil (marijuana plants and stalks make oil), paper, cloth (parachutes in WWII were made from hemp), as well as paper and food. Oh yeah....plastic products made from hemp oil will produce biodegradable plastic, so there is another thing that we can fix.

And I haven't even started on the money aspect yet..........

Wanna solve the recession and REALLY stimulate the budget? Then I've got a solution. Legalize Pot. RJ Reynolds did a study on it once, it was code named "Blackjack". They figured it would cost them roughly 10 bucks to produce a 100's style joint of marijuana. Now, if a pack of 20 joints costs a buck, well......legalization would reduce the price by 80 percent, as a joint today will generally set you back at least a 5 spot. The other 10 bucks? Taxes for the government. The company makes money, the government gets taxes, and everyone goes home in a Cadillac. Not only that, but, the infrastructure is already there in the government for it......it's called the Marijuana Tax Stamp, and they still exist. All they have to do is start selling them. I think 25 bucks/per would be a good price.

Yeah......I know.......next you're gonna tell me that the government is not going to be able to regulate the backyard growers. Well......they don't regulate the people selling produce out of the back of their trucks in the summer either. But, if they grow over an acre or so, they can be tracked and regulated. Under that? Let 'em be.

So there ya go y'all......I've just shown you how California's, as well as the rest of the country's problems could be taken care of in one fell swoop.

Oh yeah......then there's the border problem.......if pot were legal here in the US, then a lot of drug and gun smugglers would go legit. Not only that, but you'd probably also see them start to regulate themselves. Most of the illegals would probably also go back to Mexico, as they would now have an economically viable way of supporting themselves and getting American dollars.

And then, the Border Patrol could quit worrying so much about drug smugglers, and start doing what they are supposed to.......stopping terrorists and illegals.

And there are pages and pages of medical data that tells you how beneficial cannabis really is. I mean.....pot only smokers have a LESS incidence of lung cancer than NON SMOKERS! British Medical Society is the ones that discovered that. Harvard has proven that it is tailor made for the human brain. Additionally, it is great stuff for Alzheimers (helps remove the plaque from the brain), cancer (helps with the nausea of chemo), as well as a host of other things. I'm also willing to bet that it would help with ADHD (no more Ritalin), as well as Autistic people, seeing how it already has been proven to help with Alzheimers.

Yep.........we could solve a lot of problems tomorrow........

Too bad we have to follow the racist example of that racist Henry P. Anslinger.

If President Obama wants to impress me, then let him legalize Marijuana.

 

[garyd]

They would drop the prison population by a factor of zero Biker. No one is in prison for nonviolent drug offenses involving Mary jane. Ain't enough room and in CA MJ is essentailly legal.

 

[Avatar4321]

They would drop the prison population by a factor of zero Biker. No one is in prison for nonviolent drug offenses involving Mary jane. Ain't enough room and in CA MJ is essentailly legal.

Exactly! I dont know why this is so hard to understand.

 

[catzmeow]

Exactly! I dont know why this is so hard to understand.

Because people get a talking point fixed in their heads that fits their existing paradigms and rarely relinquish it, no matter how false.

 

[ABikerSailor]

They would drop the prison population by a factor of zero Biker. No one is in prison for nonviolent drug offenses involving Mary jane. Ain't enough room and in CA MJ is essentailly legal.

Exactly! I dont know why this is so hard to understand.

Would damn sure drop the population in TX by a huge amount.

 

[catzmeow]

Would damn sure drop the population in TX by a huge amount.

Evidence? What percentage of inmates in Texas prisons are there for non-violent drug offenses (and I'm not talking about trafficking offenses here). I'm sure these stats are online.

 

[Killuminati]

yall watch, aint nothin' gonna change but the date on the calendar. these "releases" will be white collar in every since of the term. you watch as they find every way under the sun to keep minorities in the can for the rest of their lives over a few leaves and stems, while ****** ford walks on a million dollar insurance scam. remember i told you so...

 

[editec]

Let all non-violent marijuana offenders with no other convictions go.

Let any drug offenders go, regardless of the drug, so long as it wasn't major distribution.

Well I started with marijuana because it's not a deadly drug. I bet half the prison population would go free.

PART of the problem is that a LOT of the people who are prison today, would have been committed to psychiatic facilites 40 years ago.

The other part of the problem is that we don't TRULY punish murderers, violent criminals and so forth, either.

The final problem is that we impreon people for drugs who should not be thought of as criminals to begin with

 

[catzmeow]

PART of the problem is that a LOT of the people who are prison today, would have been committed to psychiatic facilites 40 years ago.

This is true.

 

[catzmeow]

Adult Operations - Third Quarter 2008 Facts and Figures

California prisoners, by offense:

52.8% persons
20.1% property
18.9% drugs
8.2% other

Of the inmates who are doing time in prison for drugs, the overwhelming majority are there for FELONY drug convictions.

Ain't no one in the california prison system for having a quarter ounce of pot, y'all. So, when do you think people will start operating on the basis of facts, and not emotionalism?

 

[Ravi]

Adult Operations - Third Quarter 2008 Facts and Figures

California prisoners, by offense:

52.8% persons
20.1% property
18.9% drugs
8.2% other

Of the inmates who are doing time in prison for drugs, the overwhelming majority are there for FELONY drug convictions.

Ain't no one in the california prison system for having a quarter ounce of pot, y'all. So, when do you think people will start operating on the basis of facts, and not emotionalism?

How many are convicted of felonies for using?

 

[catzmeow]

How many are convicted of felonies for using?

None. Whether a drug offense is charged as a misdemeanor or felony depends on the QUANTITY of drugs possessed, as well as any additional charges or the presence of a weapon.

Someone who has a quarter ounce of pot in their possession is NOT doing time in prison for it. No state in the U.S. has space in prison for that kind of a low level offense.

Now, sometimes people are charged with a drug offense and other charges are plea-bargained, but in that case, it's almost always a felony drug offense (trafficking/intent to sell/distribution).

If you see the category called "disturbance of peace" offenses, that might include someone who is using drugs and commits another crime, like DWI. But for a DWI to do time in prison, they almost have to kill or maim someone.