High Witness Report

It only makes sense that one of the few Democratic Senators with any semblance of courage would have the cohonies to speak the truth and speak it freely.

Yep, speaking strength to cowardice is often futile, but this time the language comes in a clear wrapper and 100% uncensored.

Sen. Jim Webb (D-Va.), famed soldier and feared Senator, has always held justice and corrections reform high on his list of priorities. Sen. Webb has come forth to state, in no uncertain terms, that the legalization of drugs, yes, outright legalization, should not be overlooked as one of the possible cures for our rampant judicial system problems.
Indeed, it’s the foremost aggrivating factor as far as irresponsible incarceration is concerned. People simply don’t deserve to be relieved of precious freedom for getting high. That’s all there is to it.

The simple fact is that good people… hard working, honest Americans are languishing in jails and prisons for merely possessing or selling small amounts of drugs.
Meanwhile, our pedophiles, murderers, thieves and other various and assorted vermin walk free. Why? Because drug offenders are the most politically expedient of “law” violators.
“Drugs” have been blamed for the evil that men do for decades now. So jailing the druggies is always the political stepping stone De Jour. Make the public think that if we’re fighting drugs we’re fighting all crime….

Bullshit.

People do drugs, drugs don’t do people. Control and regulation is wisdom because it takes the crime (money) out of the issue, empties our prisons for more deserving residents, and insures safer druggage and safer environments in which to indulge.

Heroin addicts are safer in a clinical environment than a shooting gallery any day.

The fact is, the US has more people in prison (or systematized) than any other nation on earth. The majority of those incarcerated are in for drug related, non-violent crimes.
The sheer stupidity involved in this nation’s handling of the drug issue is almost beyond comprehension.
Most politicians know these facts. Trouble is, they’re too cowardly to tackle “controversial” issues. Least of all the most controversial issue of our time.

From a fine article by Michael O’Brien at The Hill:

April 23, 2009
Webb: Pot legalization ‘on the table’ in prison reform effort
@ 10:24 am by Michael O’Brien

The leader of a congressional effort to reform the criminal justice system said Thursday that all issues — including drug legalization — need to be on the table.

Sen. Jim Webb (D-Va.), who has made criminal justice and prison reform a signature issue of his this year in Congress, is the most high-profile lawmaker to indicate openness to drug decriminalization or outright legalization.

“Well, I think what we need to do is to put all of the issues on the table,” Webb said this morning on CNN if asked if marijuana legalization would be part of his criminal justice reform efforts.

“If you go back to 1980 as a starting point, I think we had 40,000 people in prison on drug charges, and today, we have about 500,000 of them,” the first-term Virginia lawmaker said. “And the great majority of those are nonviolent crimes — possession crimes or minor sales.”

Webb joins several other lawmakers who have called for the exploration of legalized pot, amidst a drug war in Mexico fueled by revenues from American drug sales.

“I think they should examine every aspect of drugs policy to see what’s working and what’s not working, and where the consistencies are and, quite frankly, where the inconsistencies are in terms of how people end up in the system with similar activities,” Webb explained, reiterating his call for a high-level blue ribbon commission to reform the criminal justice system.

“Nothing should be off the table,” he said.

Thanx, Big Jim. There are good people sitting in cells missing their families and not contributing to society that will appreciate the love.
I know I do.

A strong voice in the wilderness. Imagine that.

Hi, Democrats. Can you say “backbone"? Sure, I knew you could.