LISTEN TO THE WIND BLOW

I was watching it snow while I was having my lunch today. It didn't amount to much and tomorrow is supposed to be warmer but there's no denying that winter is closing its icy fist around the Happy Valley. An hour later I found out a friend was just given a medical death sentence. So I'm in a bit of a funk tonight, kind of scattered and unfocused. I'm just going to throw up what's roiling at the top of my head right now.

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NUNC PRO TUNC

I'm still thinking about the screening of Busted I saw this weekend. I read another police report of a young adult who handled a police encounter in exactly the wrong manner. It read like a script from the scene that illustrated what not to do. It struck me that the dramatizations the audience are likely to laugh at in this film are the very scenarios that play out in the reality of a law enforcement confrontation when these young folks are under the influence of a party.

If there's a young adult in your life, get them this video. It speaks within the context of their environment and lifestyle and offers invaluable assistance in how to survive a law enforcement confrontation without incurring criminal charges.

If you still need convincing, Phil Smith at DRC Net gives an in-depth review that explains it all. If you only need one copy of the video, consider sending DRC Net $35.00 and they will send you one that includes a membership to their organization. I'm long overdue in joining myself and I think I'll be ordering my copy through them.

I was fortunate enough to spend some time with Phil and David Borden this weekend. These guys have been working hard for a long time for your right to personal sovereignty and this is one of the few organizations unafraid to use the 'L' word. Even if you don't join, you should check out the site.

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SO SWEAR

It's funny how divisive the word legalization is within the reform movement. I find it a perfectly good word, an honest description of what I believe in, but at the conference I pretty much counted Last One Speaks, DRC Net and LEAP as the only ones willing to use it.

I understand the importance of framing the debate with the right terminology and I have considered at length the impact my stance might have on harm reduction strategies but in the end, it reflects my true intentions. I want to legalize sanity and humanity in drug policy and I'm willing to put my truth up against the prohibitionist's lies any time.

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CHANGES IN LATITUDE

The best news lately seems to coming from sentencing reform. Ironically we have Bush's plundering of the national treasury to thank for it. His squandering of the Clinton administration's surplus has left the economy in such shambles that the states are repealing the more draconian aspects of mandatory minimum sentences in order to reduce their budgets.

As reported in the New York Times, after two decades of passing ever tougher sentencing laws and prompting a prison building boom, state legislatures facing budget crises are beginning to rethink their costly approaches to crime.

In the past year, about 25 states have passed laws eliminating some of the lengthy mandatory minimum sentences so popular in the 1980's and 1990's, restoring early release for parole and offering treatment instead of incarceration for some drug offenders. In the process, politicians across the political spectrum say they are discovering a new motto. Instead of being tough on crime, it is more effective to be smart on crime.

It's all in the language. Maybe fiscal sense will prevail where common sense has so far failed.

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