'Drug War has Failed' Governor to Pardon Thousands of People Convicted for Pot

[BADecker]

'Drug War has Failed' Governor to Pardon Thousands of People Convicted for Pot

Montpelier, VT — Those members of government who are willing to challenge the status quo and stand against injustice are few and far between. Those members of government who not only stand against injustice but take action to reverse are all but entirely mythical. However, Vermont governor Peter Shumlin is one of those people.

Peter Shumlin just announced one of the boldest moves by a politician in recent history — he is going to pardon thousands of people whose lives were ruined by the war on drugs.

"Today I am announcing an effort using the Governor's pardoning power to expedite our move to a saner drug policy and criminal justice system," the Governor said on Thursday. "Decriminalization was a good first step in updating our outmoded drug laws. It makes no sense that minor marijuana convictions should tarnish the lives of Vermonters indefinitely."

According to the most recent data in 2014, police arrested 1,561,231 people for drug violations in a single year — 83 percent were possession only. Of that 1.5 million, 700,993 arrests were for marijuana — 88 percent of those arrests were for people possessing the plant only.

"It could have happened in the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s. There are thousands of them," said Shumlin.

Year after year, and now, decade after decade, millions of otherwise entirely innocent people have been deprived of their freedom, kidnapped, had their lives ruined, were thrown in a cage, or killed by police officers who are just doing their job while enforcing this immoral war on drugs.

Read more at http://thefreethoughtproject.com/war-drugs-failed-governor-pardon/.

[Slow death]

A very good initiative, for those who have a member of their family addicted to drugs, knows the pain of taking care of someone drugged, this is a very difficult task.

However, I will try to get through as many as possible before the end of my administration on January 5th,” Gov. Shumlin said. “This is the right thing to do.

It seems that he is predicting that the next one that occupy his position will not have leniency towards the drug addicts

Please share this article with your friends and family so that they may help push other lawmakers to do the same — and help right so many decades of wrongs.

This is another good initiative.

The world would be a better place if people did not think only of themselves.

[Fortify]

It's always good to see stories like these, because as long as the offenders were not violent then they should be set free. This only applies to cannabis though, as it is a waste of resources to keep these people in jail when police should be going after much more dangerous criminals. It is slowly changing but it seems foolish to target these people out of vengeance.

[Oppolee]

It's always good to see stories like these, because as long as the offenders were not violent then they should be set free. This only applies to cannabis though, as it is a waste of resources to keep these people in jail when police should be going after much more dangerous criminals. It is slowly changing but it seems foolish to target these people out of vengeance.

I'm generally against the release of criminals. They can't change prematurely. In addition, if the offender will see that there is a chance to avoid punishment for crimes, he will always hope for the best.

[Xester]

It was not a failed war on drugs. The enemy is the use of drugs and not the person itself, it is the war against drugs and not on the user. Im not saying Im pro drug addicts but their government has seen that there are abuses in the implementation of that law. Letting go of small time addicts is a political strategy so that the government funds will not go only to feeding programs of overpopulated prisons. I believe that the governor sees a proper way to fight drugs in their area than just putting all addicts in prison.

In the Philippines, the president doesnt put to jail the addicts automatically but they are given a chance to change their lives and if not then they will rot in jail.

I see that wisdom of that governor, and I hope that he will be successful in his move against drugs.

[btvlGainer]

It was not a failed war on drugs. The enemy is the use of drugs and not the person itself, it is the war against drugs and not on the user. Im not saying Im pro drug addicts but their government has seen that there are abuses in the implementation of that law. Letting go of small time addicts is a political strategy so that the government funds will not go only to feeding programs of overpopulated prisons. I believe that the governor sees a proper way to fight drugs in their area than just putting all addicts in prison.

In the Philippines, the president doesnt put to jail the addicts automatically but they are given a chance to change their lives and if not then they will rot in jail.

I see that wisdom of that governor, and I hope that he will be successful in his move against drugs.

It seems to me that he wants to lure all addicts. They stop being afraid and come out of their hiding places. Then they secretly and start killing. I don't believe Duarte. He has already shown the nature of a predator.

[Fortify]

In the Philippines, the president doesnt put to jail the addicts automatically but they are given a chance to change their lives and if not then they will rot in jail. .

Rot in jail? No. They have been killing addicts in the Philippines and it is not a real solution. The Philippines have a lot of problems right now and it is just a distraction technique to point towards, so politicians can say "We're doing something".

[BADecker]

The war on drugs, just like many other wars against freedom, exists to gradually take the freedom of people away. The war on drugs doesn't stop people from becoming addicts if they want to. Rather, the war on drugs gives authorities the right to dig into the private lives of people just to find out if they use drugs or not... a reduction in the freedom of privacy.

The drug war is all about taking freedom away. There are other ways to slow down drugs, such as advertising.

In free countries, the drug war actually increases the creation and flow of bad drugs. Odds are that if people were allowed to smoke pot or coke, and use mescalin freely, nobody would have had the need to develop things like ecstasy or meth and who knows how many other drugs. These drugs would never have been developed.

Further, the amounts of medical drugs in pills is almost microscopic. If these drugs were in broader use, the problems they would produce would dwarf illegal drug problems. This is exactly what is happening. People are finding out how to make medical drugs and sell them on the black market as psychedelics, but in much larger doses and quantities than you would ever find in medical drugs.

If there is going to be a drug war, it should be across the board, against the medical, as well.

[Sithara007]

I don't understand this. If smoking tobacco is not illegal, then why smoking pot is regarded as a criminal offense? According to medical experts, tobacco is more harmful than marijuana. Is smoking weed a greater offense when compared to armed robbery or home invasion?