Under the Rockerfeller drug laws someone who steals my car or holds me up at knifepoint will do less time than a street dealer who gets caught with one shift's supply of heroin or crack. That's only morally wrong but pragmatically stupid -- I don't think drug dealing is a victimless crime, but the victims are least willing participants...
I really don't see why drugs require locking people up for decades whereas homosexuality (a real killer) is protected, and drinking and smoking tobacco are tolerated. The only real purpose I can see is that such laws enable the government to more fully control its citizens. If you live in NYC like I do, you see potheads all the time, and you see drunk people all the time, and there's no question that of the two, the drunk people are the ones you want to avoid.
By the way... very pertinent current and relevant, check out the story on the baseball player who threw a chair into the stands, seriously injuring a woman, and the pleas on his behalf for leniency.
"Under the Rockefeller Drug Laws, the possession of four ounces or sale of two ounces of certain controlled substances is a Class A felony and carries a penalty of 15 years to life in prison. Possession of two ounces or the sale of half an ounce mandates three years to life in prison".
-- drugpolicy.org
Certainly the street dealer knows the laws. Yet he deals. That's New York's fault?
"That's only morally wrong but pragmatically stupid -- "
Agreed - Increase the penalties for anyone who steals my car or holds me up at knifepoint.
Tell that to the hundreds of hungry kids (who have no choice in the matter) whose parents are out stealing and murdering for their next fix.
Most people committing property crimes -- the vast majority, 90+% -- are doing it to feed their drugs habit. Your "harmless" street dealer is recruiting and motivating hundreds of burglars, shoplifters, and armed robbers.
I would not support legalizing drugs. Singapore deals better with this problem. I would go one step further: I'd support putting poisoned drugs into the distribution system. Every one of these zombies who ODs saves hundreds of citizens from misery, or even death. Why not speed them to that OD with strychnine or arsenic in the meth, crack, coke or heroin? Make the world a better place, one addict at a time.
d.o.l.
Criminal Number 18F
This is a short-sighted view/attitude. The purpose of liberty is that man might destroy himself and harm the society of people around him? No man is an island. All of society feels the effects of drug dealing. The more "degenerate" mankind becomes and the more open he becomes about it by affecting those around him, the more regulating he requires.