>>676790I didn't realize we were all liberals here.
How are my arguments stupid? I live in California and we regularly release people into the public who were arrested on drug related charges before they have served them time, because our judges feel that they haven't committed any kind of serious crime - it's just drugs.
In cities like Bayview, Oakland, and Richmond we have hundreds of homicides yearly. Almost all are black. Almost all have drug related charges, and 80% are parolees.
So I don't want President Obama to lighten up on these people and reduce their punishment. I don't want criminals who feel there is nothing wrong with doing drugs because they know they'll get a slap on the wrist.
My anger betrays my words, but having lived amongst these people (I'm in Oakland) I can't see that making drug related crime less of an offense will help anything. Drugs fuel almost *all* the crime. People get shot for holding, people get shot for buying, people get shot who are suspected of selling drugs, etc, etc. It's drugs and gang violence which are the root cause of almost every murder in this godforsaken city.
I know some people can use drugs responsibly, and some college kid who smokes a joint shouldn't go to jail for months. But those people are a minority in comparison to the numbers of people who struggle with drug addiction every day, and often commit crimes just to keep their habit going.
There's a difference between that college kid and a crackhead who beats a woman to death to swipe $15 bucks for a hit. While the former shouldn't be punished I sure as fuck don't want the latter running around town.