High Witness Report

As much as I loath this particular cast of characters in The US Supreme Court, they have managed to render a rare, intelligent decision. Untying the hands of judges by waylaying the mandatory minimum sentencing guidelines is a huge step in the right direction when it comes to the arcane Drug Laws this nation suffers under...

Mandatory Minimums. A sad testimony to a nation and a government blinded by their own fear of the unknown. The result of a Right-Wing propaganda campaign that dates back to the early 1900s, the Drug War and the mindless, soulless, detestable abuse it's caused Americans to suffer has never, ever addressed the underlying issues that cause people to use and abuse.
It has never recognized even the dramatic differences between drugs and drug offenders.
The mandatory minimums have been in effect since 1984 when congress so foolishly and irresponsibly began this farce.

No distinction has been made between a decent person who fell into the unyielding cycle of drug abuse and the slimeball that would kill over a kilo of idiot powder. No distinction has ever been made between those who abuse and are in need of help, and those that self-medicate, know exactly what they're doing, and don't want to hear your shit.

Long prison sentences do not ever reduce drug related crime. They never have and never will. The cause of drug related crime is criminalization, so how could they?
Our prisons are filled with people that were sentenced under mandatory minimum guidelines. And there they sit, in the pen doing all the drugs they want.
There is no "rehabilitation". There is no "correction". There is no logic involved with locking some dude that gets high up for twenty years. What does it accomplish other than to produce yet another institutionalized, disenfranchised, pissed-off-at-the-world convict who now has no social skills, no chance at meaningful employment, and no idea what to do with their life?

The trend seems to be (thankfully) lighter, alternative sentencing and attempts, mostly futile, at rehabilitation.

If the corrections industry actually wanted to help a person that's gone too far find their way, they would build treatment facilities faster than they build prisons. It only takes about 30 to 90 days to dry someone out. After that, with meaningful support and education (not the idiots at probation and parole), a person that wants to regain control will have the best chance. I say "regain control" because there is no cut and run from drug addiction. You can only do your drugs instead of letting your drugs do you.

Now, with judges being empowered to consider that a person dealing drugs can have a wide variety of reasons for doing so, we may wind up seeing a little compassion in sentencing. Judges aren't perfect, but they're smarter than politicians. I'll take my chances with a judge anytime over being fodder for a DA with ambitions.
There is the dealer that deals because he's greedy, the dealer that deals because he's too stupid or lazy or both to work, the dealer that knows that due to criminalization, he can get rich dealing faster than he can get rich working. Then there's the dealer that just deals to afford his own stash. Or the guy that has a parent in a nursing home and has to pay for care. Or any one of the millions of people that deal a little to friends to supplement their meager income.
Do we include them with the greedy and stupid? The gov't does.

Now aside from this remarkably sensible ruling, I find it equally amazing that the court seemed to follow the assertions and advice of the The House Judiciary Committee which is chaired by the great congressman John Conyers...

"When the penalties for drug possession were set, the punishment for crack was set higher because lawmakers believed crack was a more dangerous drug -- and associated with more violent behavior -- than powdered cocaine. Research has shown that there is no real difference in the potential dangers of crack or powdered cocaine. There is, however, a difference in the type of user that favors the two drugs: Because of its much-lower street price, crack is associated with poor, minority and urban users, while powder cocaine tends to be favored by more affluent users.

Over 80 percent of those convicted on crack cocaine charges are black. These nonviolent drug offenders would be better served by a drug treatment facility but are, instead, sentenced to long sentences -- overcrowding prisons and running up a prison expense tab that is now in the billions".

Interesting. The most conservanoid SCOTUS we've had in decades and finally some progress (no matter how small) is made in the pure, Iraqesque madness that is the Drug War and the accompanying hysteria.

Somewhere it has to stop. As a nation, we have more people incarcerated than any other country on earth. Most of those minor drug offenders. The only result of the prison time is misery for offender and family and tax payer alike.

The SCOTUS has opened a door that has long needed opening. It took courage to do that.
With the exception of those two tools, Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, the 7-2 decision was a good step forward.

Let's hope it doesn't stop there.