Did They Molest the Meth?

Jacob Sullum | January 6, 2006

The Drug War Chronicle reports that Tennessee has started treating meth offenders like sex offenders, entering their names and locations into an online database so they can be properly shunned. The main rationale for registering sex offenders, as opposed to other felons, is that they are especially likely to commit new crimes. As I've argued, there is little basis for that assumption, but at least the idea is to protect people (children in particular) from predatory criminals. The meth offender registry, by contrast, is simply "another tool to help fight the war on meth." It cannot even be defended as a way to identify neighbors who are apt to set up potentially hazardous meth labs in their homes, since it includes people convicted merely of possession.

Comments

|1.6.06 @ 2:25PM|#

I don't think that this is good for the justice system for Ten. This will just make the criminals bitter towards the system and make things more complicated for the state in the long run. Not to mention that this is just a law so politicians appear to be tough on crime.

|1.6.06 @ 2:26PM|#

So, if the goal is to get people to stop earning money in the black market, is it really a good idea to make it harder for them to find a job?

Warren|1.6.06 @ 2:35PM|#

On the plus side, finding speed should be much easier, now that I know who to call.

|1.6.06 @ 2:42PM|#

:On the plus side, finding speed should be much easier, now that I know who to call."

I've made similar observations in the past about sex offender registries (particularly those that include female offenders) -- it's practically a dating service for the "deviant".

|1.6.06 @ 2:42PM|#

Seems that the "goal" of the drug war is to inflict as much wrath as consensus can generate on those who refuse to submit to an abusive majority on this particular issue.

|1.6.06 @ 2:51PM|#

"On the plus side, finding speed should be much easier, now that I know who to call."

Warren, excellent point. Back in high school when I considered smoking pot a recreational activity akin to giving me the same pleasure as taking in a movie or playing pick-up football, I would have wanted nothing more than a published directory of the local dealers and growers. Of course, the chances of being arrested for buying illegal drugs would have been greatly increased by visiting with such persons of ill-repute.

I wonder how broadly the nets can be cast if they publish the names of known meth cookers/dealers ? how many meth ?addicts? can be arrested and put into prison, how many lives can be saved ?for the sake of the children?? (Not that I have anything against ?the children.? But I think government seriously undermines how crafty people of any age are when it comes to acquiring forbidden fruit. Removing the product will not remove the underlying problem. It may serve to drive it further into a more dangerous underground.) But I forgot ? we are the rational people who know this already.

Damned choir!

|1.6.06 @ 3:11PM|#

They've already got a meth-smoker registry in Tennessee. It's called the "phone book!"

Ba-dum-bum. *takes a bow

Thank you, you've all been great!

Warren|1.6.06 @ 3:15PM|#

AmyLou,
The "goal" of the drug war is:
Bequeath more power upon those in power.
Put a stop to anyone whom may threaten that power.
Convince everybody else that the wielding of power is the source of their safety.

|1.6.06 @ 3:18PM|#

Hmm, the apologists will be along in a minute to state this is not some slippery slope and we don't have any "right to privacy" anyway, so lemme beat 'em to it...let's post everyone's criminal record. If your neighbor has been busted for burglary this will warn you to lock your doors. If someone has a bunch of domestic violence convictions this will warn potential mates. We can even use the database to help decide who to vote for.

It's the Information Age, let's open the floodgates.

|1.6.06 @ 3:19PM|#

I forgot...if you have nothing to hide you have nothing to fear, and it will protect the children.

|1.6.06 @ 3:23PM|#

So, if the goal is to get people to stop earning money in the black market, is it really a good idea to make it harder for them to find a job?

Well, you realize you're asking government bueaucrats to think along business and entrepreneurial lines. If they knew how to think that way or had any concept of what could be had by operating a business or creating something, they'd never have signed up for shitty $ 12.47 an hour jobs in the first place.

|1.6.06 @ 3:37PM|#

The sex-offender registry is unconstitutional at least (punished twice for the same crime), and if nothing else, yet another sign of failure of our criminal justice system.

If they pose such a "threat", why are they released in the first place? Crap, statistically, convicted felons are more likely to commit another crime than non-felons. According to their logic, we should track all former thieves, muggers and robbers first.

|1.6.06 @ 3:48PM|#

Warren,
What frightens me about that is the "convince everyone the wielding of power is good for them." Each small step eventually leads to the coverage of many miles - I wonder how much closer to complete abandonment of our rights this small action is bringing us?

The rhetoric of taking these actions in the interest of public safety has become a drug in and of itself - soothing to the mind and offering the facade of comfort to people terrified of facing the reality of having to think for and protect themselves.

When I was younger and read books like Brave New World, Fahrenheit 451 and 1984, my parents and teachers told me that in a democratic society like America, that type of thing will never happen. I've been lied to - it seems like we take a step closer to exactly that type of society every day.

Warren|1.6.06 @ 3:57PM|#

AmyLou,
I'm prone to that line of thinking too. It's why I restock the liquor cabinet so often. However, something Nick has said on occasion keeps my spirits up. On the one hand the government grows more and more onerous each year. Outrage on top of outrage squeezing our precious liberty into an ever smaller sphere. However, we should keep in mind that socially we have become much more liberal. Society today offers much more freedom than it did twenty years ago if you happen to be gay, or forty years ago if you happen to be a woman, or sixty years ago if you happen to be black. And even if you are none of those things it's better to live in a society where gays blacks and women are your equals.

|1.6.06 @ 4:18PM|#

That headline sounds like some horrible new "cool" anti-drug slogan thought up by a government agency. "Don't molest the meth, yo!"

|1.6.06 @ 4:54PM|#

Being gay makes it easy to find meth. But the hardest thing I've done is cough syrup and 7up.

Rich Ard|1.6.06 @ 5:02PM|#

How did that work out?

|1.6.06 @ 5:20PM|#

I love you guys. Let's go move to Tennessee and get some meth. Maybe we could even get some babes off the sex-offender registry. Partay!

Matt|1.6.06 @ 7:48PM|#

Ha! This story is yet another example of life imitating The Onion.

http://www.theonion.com/content/node/30925

|1.6.06 @ 8:19PM|#

Being gay makes it easy to find meth. But the hardest thing I've done is cough syrup and 7up.

O.K. H.a.h.b., I'll bite. Why is that ?

|1.6.06 @ 9:57PM|#

Okay, I will be the apologist.

As I read it, the law doesn't require meth offenders to register annually, like sex offenders. It just provides a searchable database by name and place of conviction.

This is all public information, and they are just making it available on the web. Anybody against that concept? Actually, all govt information should be public and searchable, and meth offendors is just a start.

michelle shinghal|1.6.06 @ 11:36PM|#

Well, you realize you're asking government bueaucrats to think along business and entrepreneurial lines. If they knew how to think that way or had any concept of what could be had by operating a business or creating something, they'd never have signed up for shitty $ 12.47 an hour jobs in the first place.

Their incomes are as augmented as Texas breasts by the likes of Abramoff. I wonder who can claim the least painful recovery time.

|1.7.06 @ 3:54AM|#

Yeah, might as well Tom, it's not like social security numbers are secret anymore anyway.

I think the idea they are trying to convey is that the people have already been punished, and now they're trying to embarass these people and have them ostracized. There's a big difference between making the information easily accessable on the web and hidden away behind some severe-looking clerk.

|1.7.06 @ 10:08AM|#

Actually, the best solution might be to just have a government database full of every slight brush with the law that anyone has ever had. Sure, people might snoop into every speeding ticket their neighbors received, but such a database is sure to be massive, inefficent and chock-full of insignificant offenses, thus rendering it practically useless.

The best thing about our democratically-inclined, two party government is that no matter how large and intrusive it becomes, it can never be as bureaucratically efficient as a purely totalitarian one. Instead of trying to halt the inexorable growth of the government, perhaps we should be helping it along until it becomes so redundant, inefficent and laughable that it will be incapable of actually doing anything.

|1.7.06 @ 1:02PM|#

As major producers of methane, this disturbs us.

|1.7.06 @ 1:31PM|#

The sex-offender registry is unconstitutional at least (punished twice for the same crime), and if nothing else, yet another sign of failure of our criminal justice system.

You beat me to it. But the Official Legal Fiction is that being put on a sex-offender registry, or a drug offender registry, or being denyed the vote, or gun rights, or any other imposition they may want to slap onto ex-cons, is that it's "not a punishment." And so it gets around that pesky Constitutional protection against ex post facto laws.

If they pose such a "threat", why are they released in the first place? Crap, statistically, convicted felons are more likely to commit another crime than non-felons. According to their logic, we should track all former thieves, muggers and robbers first.

Well, it's that pesky prohibition on ex post facto laws again: You can't keep them locked up after their sentence is over - unless you can somehow claim (as with certain sex offenders) that keeping them locked up "isn't a punishment."

Larry A|1.7.06 @ 3:05PM|#

Since "everyone knows" all meth users will be dead within five years, such a list will be invaluable to morticians.

Actually, the best solution might be to just have a government database full of every slight brush with the law that anyone has ever had. Sure, people might snoop into every speeding ticket their neighbors received, but such a database is sure to be massive, inefficent and chock-full of insignificant offenses, thus rendering it practically useless.

You left out "riddled with mistakes." Has everyone checked their credit reports lately?

|1.8.06 @ 1:28AM|#

My boyfriend's little sister got busted for meth possession (it was her boyfriend's, she said, uh huh) and since she broke up with the boob and went straight, she needs to hang with decent straight people. She does not need to be ostracized in an area with mesh pushers. Fortunately, the government screwed up again and misspelled her name on the record so hilariously she can plausibly deny it is actually her.

|1.8.06 @ 4:14AM|#

You beat me to it. But the Official Legal Fiction is that being put on a sex-offender registry, or a drug offender registry, or being denyed the vote, or gun rights, or any other imposition they may want to slap onto ex-cons, is that it's "not a punishment." And so it gets around that pesky Constitutional protection against ex post facto laws.

The ATF has a FAQ section and one of the questions concerns misdemeanor domestic violence convictions being a prohibiting offense, and whether such prohibition violate the ex post facto laws. They respond that it's not a punishment, and that it merely regulates future behavior. (Emphasis mine)

Pretty much sums up the various governments' take on all of these types of laws. They merely regulate future behavior.

Get enough politicians behind a law, and they could pass a law that could prohibit gun ownership, revoke drivers licenses, professional licenses, bar certifications, medical certifications, teaching licenses, etc. based on any conviction they wish to list that occurred at any point in the past they wish to set. FFLs who had been licensed for 20 years were no longer allowed to even possess, much less sell, firearms based on convictions that sometimes predated their licensure, all based on a law passed in 1997.

If yearly sex offender registration is "good", why not bi-yearly, quarterly, or even monthly? How far can they go in "regulating future behavior"?

|1.8.06 @ 12:19PM|#

This law would only apply to those in Tennessee that are not in the good old boy system that is rampant in the state...Just type in "Tennessee State Trooper Promotions" in Google and you will find the latest in a line of scandals plaguing the state.

This is just another example of the political elite with the holier than thou attitude who at some point always...always...always get caught doing the same thing...DWI, Drugs, Prostitutes, Then do not suffer the humiliation they thought was just punishment for the lower class.

Clarksville TN has all DWI offenders picking trash up along the road in vests...until a local councilwoman got snared in a checkpoint driving drunk...then the rules had to change...for the one case then they went back to the zero tolerance.

These people think their lives are more valuable than the common person and they should not have to follow the same rules as the peasants...and all the peasants go along with it because who wants a druggie living next to them.

The same people who fight the "Patriot Act" and no fly lists are all for stupid lists like this. Tennesse just wants to make sure that they totally destroy a persons life forever for one small mistake.

Sort of like a credit report....

|1.8.06 @ 8:56PM|#

My excellent, fellow-traveling anarchist daughter and I happened to be in Tennessee this weekend buying allergy relief medication for her.
Both of us have since managed to escape the state relatively unscathed, we think.
Her allergy attack was ameliorated too.

I'm just sayin'...

Rick|1.9.06 @ 12:51AM|#

This is just another witchhunt. This another way to provide fresh bodies to be stoned in the town square. Why is the voluntary manufacture and distribution of drugs among consenting adults considered a "crime"? I'm a traditionalist on drug prohibition. We need to return to our nation's pre-1914 over-the-counter drug purchasing tradition. We have the world's largest prison gulag thanks in large part to drug prohibition.

|1.9.06 @ 4:04PM|#

This to me is an insult to anyone who has family or themselves who have been sexually assaulted. Let the city council and LEO's kids and family be molested and then ask if they feel it has had the same impact on their lives as the meth users in the world have had.

This is always one of my prime points when debating someone about drug legalization. No one yet has been able to honestly say they would rather live across the street from a murder or rapist/molester yet. But they seem to care less that violent offenders are let go early everyday because they have to make room for a drug offender with a manditory sentence.

These days there doesn't seem to be any crime more in need of punishment than drug crimes. Yet no one I know would rather have true criminals on the street just in the name of the WoD. Seems like the smaller and smaller the drug warrior majority becomes the more over the top they push things in an attempt to hold the line. Really they do this with any of their plans regardless of success or failure. They must figure once the golden goose is dead and out of their control the truth will come to roost and no one wants that to happen.

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