Attacking Defending America's Most Vulnerable

Jacob Sullum | October 7, 2005

The Drug Policy Alliance reports that House Judiciary Committee Chairman F. James Sensenbrenner's draconian Defending America's Most Vulnerable: Safe Access to Drug Treatment and Child Protection Act—which, among other things, would have increased penalties for nonviolent drug offenders and made failure to snitch on your friends, relatives, and neighbors a federal crime—"is most likely (but not definitely) dead." For a detailed explanation of why the bill is so awful, see the Independence Institute's eye-opening analysis. Meanwhile, another rabid drug warrior, Rep. Mark Souder (R-Ind.), has introduced a bill that imposes penalties for methamphetamine possession—e.g., a 10-year mandatory minimum sentence for five grams—that make the crack sentences created in the 1980s look mild by comparison. DPA is whipping up the opposition.

Comments

|10.7.05 @ 6:06PM|#

DAMVSADTCPA? Wtf? Where's the patriotic and/or cute acronym in that? No wonder it died.

Alex|10.7.05 @ 7:16PM|#

Thanks for mentioning the Souder meth bill. I've been blogging about what a potential disaster it is but I've definitely had the sense of being the proverbial tree falling in the woods, or whatever the metaphor is...

|10.7.05 @ 9:07PM|#

Down in Dixie, my third-grade teacher would sit by the cafeteria check-out woman and grade the lunch selections we had made. She also made a daily check of our fingernails for unsightliness. (At least I was clever enough not to clean my fingernails with a number 2 pencil, as did some classmates who went on to be members of the "Smoking Club" at my high school... all dead now.)
I failed to keep track of the career of this caring teacher, but is there a chance she went on to become Janet Reno?
Ah eeee!

|10.7.05 @ 10:09PM|#

Alex, your intention is good, but I have yet to hear of blogging having any impact, whatsoever, on anything in the real world. You could blog about this until your fingers bleed, but be realistic: personal blogs are rarely read by people other than the authors and other blog-obsessed people. I don't know what the answer is, but I know it's not blogging.

|10.8.05 @ 11:41AM|#

It would have been worse under Stalin.

Larry A|10.8.05 @ 2:46PM|#

Meanwhile, another rabid drug warrior, Rep. Mark Souder (R-Ind.), has introduced a bill...

What we really need is a good song.
When will they ever learn?
When will they eeeeeever leeearn?

SteveInClearwater|10.11.05 @ 3:37AM|#

ALEX, I feel your pain.

Most blogging directly into a personal weblog site is pretty much a tree falling in the middle of the woods.

Far more value to find some more established outlets (including this one here) where your smart writing on any subject is more likely to be seen.

I've made a number of good contacts on sites like this and they serve as an excellent "live wire" for transmitting and transferring important news and information literally nationwide and worldwide within a few hours or days.

It also forces me to be a bit more concise and focused with any messages that I personally might want to sling into the cybersphere and that likely is a benefit for everyone....heh

Thanks for your noticing this failed aspect of the War on (some) Drugs and for doing whatever you think best to deliver the message to others.