Thread: Holder vows to end war on drugs, cites racial imbalance in 'unintended consequences'

More laws that aren't going to be enforced?

This is from a left site but it is chock full of interesting information, especially the part about more Executive Orders. To say the race card is being played in this article is an understatement. Personally, I think it is unfortunate that there is a racial "disparity" in prisons but I think that the government plantation has a lot to do with it and the drug culture from Mexico is a large contributing factor also.
Holder vows to end war on drugs, cites racial imbalance in 'unintended consequences'

Aug 08, 2013
BY Herbert Dyer, Jr.

In a recent interview with NPR, Attorney General Eric Holder admitted to having finally seen the light: America is locking up too many of its citizens, especially its black and brown citizens. Holder is set to announce what he described as “major changes” in the entire incarceration process within a week's time. His special focus and emphasis is on the putative “War on Drugs.”

From the interview: “The war on drugs is now 30, 40 years old. There have been a lot of unintended consequences. There’s been a decimation of certain communities, in particular communities of color.” (Emphasis added).

Holder's sudden shift in attitude, approach, and drug policy follows several meetings with prison and drug reform groups. Dr. Boyce Watkins of Syracuse University and YourBlackWorld.com, together with entertainment mogul Russell Simmons, recently presented an open letter to the Obama Admistration signed by 175 celebrities, activists and scholars demanding an end to the so-called war on drugs.

Bill Piper is the director of national affairs for the Drug Policy Alliance. He is quoted by YourBlackWorld.com as saying, “Attorney General Holder is clearly right to condemn mass incarceration and racial disparities in the criminal justice system.”

“Both he and the president have an opportunity to leave a lasting legacy by securing substantial, long overdue drug policy reform,” concludes Piper.
Holder announced on NPR that he has tasked a team of attorneys to specifically and exclusively concentrate on ending the war on drugs. He is also expected to make a major policy speech on this matter next week.

What specific policy prescriptions and proposals might we expect to hear from this “new deal”? Holder told NPR that “...we can certainly change our enforcement priorities, and so we have some control in that way. How we deploy our agents, what we tell our prosecutors to charge. But I think this would be best done if the executive branch and the legislative branch work together to look at this whole issue and come up with changes that are acceptable to both.”

Individual states, of course, are well ahead of the federal government in addressing (and redressing) this issue. Colorado and Washington voters both ended marijuana prohibition entirely last November.

And, Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, is planning to hold hearings on both sentencing reform and ending the conflict between state governments and the federal government insofar as enforcement of marijuana laws is concerned.

The Drug Policy Alliance has also made specific proposals to the Obama administration: They want a bipartisan approach to this matter, first and foremost. Such an approach must include passage of:

• The Safety Valve Act – a bipartisan Senate bill which would allow federal judges to sentence nonviolent offenders below the federal mandatory minimum sentence.
• The Smarter Sentencing Act – a bipartisan Senate bill which would lower mandatory minimum sentences for certain drug offenses; and would render the recent reduction in the crack/powder cocaine sentencing disparity retroactive. This bill would also give federal judges more discretion to sentence certain offenders below the mandatory minimum sentence.
• The Public Safety Enhancement Act – another bipartisan approach which would allow certain federal prisoners to be transferred out of prison and into community service-type facilities for supervision. This class of federal prisoners would be required to take rehabilitation classes before and after being released from prison.
• Activists are also urging Holder and Obama to appoint a real “drug czar” whose principal priority would be to actually reduce the federal prison population, with an eye to dismantling and deconstructing the embedded, systemic and structural racial disparities inherent in current federal drug policy. The idea here is to aggressively shift the approach to drug use from a criminal issue to a public health issue – thus substantially reducing mass incarceration while at the same time improving public health.
• Finally, Holder and Obama are being asked to issue executive orders and directives disallowing federal law from trumping state efforts to regulate marijuana instead of criminalizing it. As of this writing, a full 20 states and the District of Columbia have legalized marijuana for medical use. And, as stated, two states have rendered marijuana as legal as alcohol.

“The U.S. is at a pivotal moment right now where fundamental change to our bloated, racially-biased criminal justice system is possible,” said Piper. “But change isn’t inevitable; it will take significant leadership by Attorney General Holder, President Obama, and both Democrats and Republicans in Congress.”

Dr. Watkins agrees and has praised Holder's new spirit. Watkins says that the drug war has been nothing less than “a holocaust for the black community.”

“Our families and communities have been destroyed by the drug war,” said Dr. Watkins. ”We were the ones getting addicted to the drugs, being killed over the drugs and going to prison for the drugs. That’s been the single greatest obstacle for progress in black America over the last 40 years. I applaud the Attorney General for showing courage on this important issue.”

Opinion

This is why black people voted for Obama. Not just because he is black, as conservatives (and others) love to insist. We voted for him because we hoped and believed that he (better than most potential white presidents) would not just understand, sympathize, or even empathize with the real life hell that we have been catching for all of these years, but that he would actually do something about it.

My concern with Holder's and Obama's pivot on drugs here is this: Notice that all of the so-called “bipartisan” proposals for reform of drug policy are being initiated in the Senate (where Democrats hold a majority).

Obama seems to have a “constitutional” need to seek out Republican support for matters that demand immediate attention but require only his personal prerogative to get done.

Does Holder or Obama really believe that any of these rational, reasonable ideas and proposals will ever see the light of day in today's Republican-controlled House of Representatives? I am afraid that after he is rebuffed by the Republican House, he will retreat, and move on to the next issue -- just as he did in his first two years in office when he could find no Republican support (despite a Democratic majority) for issues affecting black people.

That is why, however, one of the measures and approaches being urged upon the administration is that the administration take unilateral steps to end this war -- bypassing Congress altogether.

Obama does not need Congress in order to regulate the federal prison system. Holder does not need congressional approval to simply tell his federal prosecutors to lay off, to stop hassling black people over minor amounts of marijuana and other “recreational” drugs.

Finally, Obama has the supreme and unapproachable power to pardon federal prisoners who have been unjustly imprisoned. Congress has no say whatever in that matter.

We'll see what Holder says next week. This is a good start, indeed. If Obama and Holder can pull it off, then perhaps his presidency will not have been all tell and no show after all.
http://www.allvoices.com/contributed...Outbrain2Cents

Holder vows to end war on drugs, cites racial imbalance in 'unintended consequences'

Gee do ya think they finally cut him off....

Originally Posted by Newmexican

Holder vows to end war on drugs, cites racial imbalance in 'unintended consequences'

Gosh, it seems like only last week that the feds were busting pot dispensaries in California. Who knew about those unintended consequences? Well, 'Bama and Holder certainly did. The rock 'em, sock 'em policy must have been directed at some segment of voters, and god knows 'Bama is setting a new standard for cynicism.

On the other hand, the War on Drugs is a conspicuous, total, monstrous failure. We tried Prohibition here at home, we tried interdiction in Columbia, and we are trying interdiction again in Mexico. In our own country, Prohibition led to an underground economy, competing drug gangs, and law enforcement personnel who looked the other way when the price was right. In Columbia we actually destabilized the government and looked on as competing militias took over the drug trade. In Mexico, we are witnessing more gang wars, and more co-option of government officials and law enforcement personnel. Who was it who said that insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result?

We can like or not like people's consumption of alcohol and other drugs, but liking or not liking that consumption will not change anything. Our best policy - with "best" meaning that it works long term - is legalization, regulation, taxation, and education. Anything else is delusional.

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Americans first in this magnificent country

American jobs for American workers

Fair trade, not free trade

It is possible now to render plants like the poppy with the use of GMO Technology to produce little or no opiates, but you'll never see that happen. The war on drugs was a farce, a play put on for public consumption. We have major banks in this country still laundering drug cartel money. Afghanistan produces 8,200 tons of opium, 53% of the country’s GDP and 93% of global heroin supply, yet we look the other way claiming its part of the culture , not to mention the CIA horror stories of involvement in the drug trade there.There was never a war on drugs, just the illusion of one.

Originally Posted by Reciprocity

The war on drugs was a farce, a play put on for public consumption. We have major banks in this country still laundering drug cartel money. Afghanistan produces 8,200 tons of opium, 53% of the country’s GDP and 93% of global heroin supply,...

I think that the war was real enough, but it ran into a problem which really should have made policy makers rethink the wisdom of the policy: demand creates supply.
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Americans first in this magnificent country

American jobs for American workers

Fair trade, not free trade

I really don't see why the war ob drugs is a failure other then because of liberal minds and those who refuse to push and demand personal responsibility.

First off is to change what drugs are considered illegal and set reasons for why, not just because it cuts into the tobacco industries profits.

Then secure the border with the National Guard. Illegal entry is NOT tolerated and assumed if not drug running to be economic terrorism. This would shut down much of the drugs.

Next step don't go after the user but dealers of all levels. Dealing should be considered attempted manslaughter at the least and multiple accounts attempted murder. The major players get dealt with how China deals with it which I see as the right solution. Those who don't know, its the death penalty but the death penalty actually needs its teeth back and no more appealing 20 times that take 60 years to complete. Death penalty can be quite simple with an old fashioned firing squad.

Put serious fear into the dealers. Stop thinking of the death penalty as taking a life but saving hundreds, thousands, possibly millions of lives. Protecting the majority must come ahead of protecting the few who go against society and the laws set to govern and protect.

Related ..

Either way, allowing Eric Holder to stroll scot-free over the graves of Brian Terry and Jaime Zapata would place John Boehner among the most disgraceful and despicable traitors to the American public in our nation’s history. But don’t expect him to shed any tears over such a trifle. Little Johnny isn’t THAT sensitive.

Coach is Right Archives

John Boehner to halt Fast and Furious investigation, sell out to Eric Holder and White House

By Coach Collins, on February 7th, 2012
by Doug Book, staff writer

Yesterday, Coach is Right published facts concerning an avenue which honest and courageous congressional Republicans might follow in their efforts to bring to justice those responsible for the criminal misadventure of Operation Fast and Furious and its subsequent cover-up. The following represents current news of a vastly different approach.

Congressman John Boehner, the House Speaker better known for displays of weeping than of courage, is reportedly cutting a deal with Eric Holder which would provide a “mutually satisfactory” outcome in Barack Obama’s criminal, gun running endeavor Operation Fast and Furious.

Months ago, Boehner prevented Darrell Issa filing a charge of perjury against Holder even after documents proved the Attorney General’s May 4^th House testimony concerning the date of his first “acquaintance” with Fast and Furious to be an outright lie. And now the weepy Speaker will OFFICIALLY let the most corrupt Department of Justice head in the nation’s history off the hook for complicity in the Regime’s murderous scheme to savage the 2^nd Amendment rights of the American people.

The terms of the betrayal John Boehner is currently putting together:

The Committee will accept the scalps of [Lanny] Breuer and [Jason] Wienstein, DOJ will release enough of the (documents) to condemn them, claim cooperation (thus giving the appearance of recognizing congress’s oversight authority), and Holder will survive – looking like a “leader” for offering them up (along with a few lower level ATF and DOJ folk). The Committee will chalk one in the “Win” column for oversight and holding people accountable. DOJ will have the same for cooperating and accountability. (1)

Lovely, isn’t it! Hundreds are dead, including two American agents. One of those dead, Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry was literally set up for murder by an FBI INFORMANT who, on December 14^th of 2010, accompanied and LED the drug cartel rip gang responsible for Terry’s death. The other victim, ICE Agent Jaime Zapata was NOT PERMITTED by LAW to even possess a weapon with which he might have defended himself from his killers!

Yet John Boehner will be pleased to sell them out in order to lay claim to the pathetically comic mantle of a tough-minded Republican leader who brought down 2 Obama Regime, Department of Justice higher-ups. That is, with the approval of the White House, of course.

But in point of fact Boehner will, as usual, simply be doing do what is politically safe and expedient rather than what is RIGHT. He will continue his customary role of bowing and scraping before leftist media and political types who allow useful idiots like himself to remain in positions of strictly limited authority only on condition they make no waves and create no embarrassment for the real ruling class in the nation’s capital.

Are the House committee sources of Mike Vanderboegh–the citizen journalist responsible for so much of what we know of the Fast and Furious scheme and its DOJ sponsored cover-up–right about the looming betrayal to be perpetrated by the Speaker?

We will know by the actions of House leadership and the designated sacrificial lambs in this little exercise of DC collusion. If Republican leadership demand NO prison time for any of the lambs, the fix is in. If any of those being sold down the river in return for the Regime’s continued ability to escape responsibility actually ARE on the way to jail, yet somehow unable to trade extremely damaging evidence against the DOJ or White House for protected status, we’ll ALSO know the fix is in.

Either way, allowing Eric Holder to stroll scot-free over the graves of Brian Terry and Jaime Zapata would place John Boehner among the most disgraceful and despicable traitors to the American public in our nation’s history. But don’t expect him to shed any tears over such a trifle. Little Johnny isn’t THAT sensitive.

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