Attacking Defending America's Most Vulnerable

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.