War on Drugs Takes a Toll on the L.A. Justice System

Los Angeles Times ^ | October 25, 2003 | Brady Sullivan

[MrLeRoy]

[...] People who work in the Los Angeles criminal justice system are well aware that the central problem with the LAPD is not a shortage of police officers but a misallocation of personnel. Instead of fully policing the most violent, gang-infested parts of the city, a vast number of officers are toiling away in the futile "war on drugs."

As a deputy public defender in Los Angeles for the last 15 years, mostly spent in the central criminal courthouse, I have gained firsthand knowledge of the misguided priorities of the LAPD. I've witnessed the vast number of police personnel engaged in the failed prohibition against illegal drugs, the central feature of which is the so-called "buy-bust" operation. During these elaborate undercover sting operations, involving 15 to 25 LAPD officers, a pathetic street person — who is usually a homeless, mentally ill, drug-addicted black or Latino parolee — is approached by an undercover officer and offered an inflated price for a rock or two of cocaine.

[...]

The costs to the public in this absurd scenario are not limited to the vast amount of police time spent making arrests and sitting around in court to testify. The public costs also include the expense of incarceration in county jail and state prison, as well as the significant costs to staff courtrooms with judges, lawyers, clerks, court reporters, interpreters and juries. A number of judges who handle felonies downtown say that these street-level drug cases take up about 75% of all court time. [...]

[MrLeRoy]

Wod_list (http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/involved?group=124) ping

[jmc813]

WOD Ping

[Lazamataz]

Drug addiction is a medical problem, not a law issue.

I should know. I'm a recovering cocaine addict. Only by the grace of G-d and the friendship of NA have I stayed clean.

[Lazamataz]

Well, except for that shot of heroin.

[Lazamataz]

And the handful of Quaaludes.

[Lazamataz]

And the speed.

[Lazamataz]

And the goofballs.

[Lazamataz]

And the pot.

[expatpat]

Surely drugs and gang-violence are inextricably linked.

[onedoug]

So what solutions does this character offer?

[MrLeRoy]

Surely drugs and gang-violence are inextricably linked.

No, no more than alcohol and gang-violence were inextricably linked---they were decoupled by the simple act of ending Prohibition.

[MrLeRoy]

So what solutions does this character offer?

He clearly thinks ending those stupid "buy-bust" operations would help.

[onedoug]

"...ending those stupid "buy-bust" operations would help."

Help what? To enable even more people into addiction?

[MrLeRoy]

ending those stupid "buy-bust" operations would help.

Help what?

Help free officers for more fully policing the most violent, gang-infested parts of the city.

To enable even more people into addiction?

Provide evidence that criminalizing drugs has reduced addiction.

[onedoug]

I don't claim to have a solution, though it seems to me that much, if not most of this selling activity is already going on in the most violent, gang-infested parts of the city..

[MrLeRoy]

much, if not most of this selling activity is already going on in the most violent, gang-infested parts of the city.

No doubt---and the criminalization of drugs helps fuel this violence by boosting drug profits.

[onedoug]

So decriminalization, especially of some of these truly horrible drugs, makes America better?

I know it's frustrationg, but I just don't see that.

[MrLeRoy]

So decriminalization, especially of some of these truly horrible drugs, makes America better?

Relegalization would reduce the following effects of the criminalization of drugs: deaths of innocents in drug-turf wars; deaths of users due to impurities or unexpectedly high potencies; enrichment of criminals; corruption of the justice system by enriched criminals; and lessened respect for the law in general.

Not to mention upholding the principle that adults should be free to make their own non-rights-violating choices (even if the choices they make are stupid).

[KDD]

LOL..