Finally...

Some long-overdue positive news from US Attorney General Eric Holder.

The US is seeking to reduce prison overcrowding by reducing minimum sentencing for non-violent drug related crimes.

This is a major step in the right direction after a failed drug war.

US attorney general unveils prison reform
Al Jazeera

Justice Dept. Seeks to Curtail Stiff Drug Sentences <-- New York Times.

These changes are effective immediately.

However, most of the incarceration is at state level and more locally, not federally.

* Also the Al Jazeera video mentioned "harsh sentences for 'major drug dealers'"; what is a "major drug dealer", specifically, and what is/are the level(s) below that, specifically?

* Growing how many Cannabis plants = "major drug dealer" ? ? ?

Great news!

Baby steps, but two years ago when everyone thought cannabis legalization was decades off, I had a feeling that it was much closer. Look at us now with 2 states and a global conversation. I have the feeling that we are going to see some great things happening sooner than we think...(fingers crossed)

Someone on Fox news was complaining that the attorney general didn't have the right to change the law

Finally. About damn time.


But let's not cheer just yet. I share Cosmic Spore's concerns about defenitions.
What defines a "mayor drug dealer"? This still gives the prohibitionists enough
leeway to continue incarcerating non-violent, innocent people who possess drugs.

Don't take half-assed steps towards ending prohibition; That's what they did in the Netherlands
and it didn't turn out well. The Dutch now have a shady, vague law where Cannabis is still illegal,
but rather policies are so that the sales of Cannabis is allowed, allthough TECHNICALLY still illegal.

On the other hand the large scale growing of Cannabis(to supply the "coffee"shops) is still actively
and mercylessly hunted down & persecuted. So because Cannabis farmers have such high costs & risks,
Cannabis is getting ever more expensive, it's cultivation is gouverned by hardcore criminals &
prohibitionists use these problems, which they created themselves, as "reasons" to keep pushing
Prohibition back into Dutch society.

I can only hope the USA doesn't make that "mistake".Push it, folks, push it as far as you can and leave not an inch of freedom or space to breathe left for the prohibitionists;
They would surely abuse the tiniest bit of freedom to continue taking away ALL our freedoms.
These people should be imprisoned for the rest of their worthless lives. All of them.
If we don't do that, we can surely count on them to continue expanding their Tyranny untill it saturates our societies so completely that resisting them, in ANY way, becomes more and more impossible & dangerous. We'll get the 20s all over again: The polulation being stuck between a rock and a hard place: The ever more fascist-Government squashing them from the one side & murderous, drug-dealing, organised Criminals squashing them from the other side.

I don't see why the US government would lift Prohibition after the horrible 1920s,
reinstate and increase prohibition again(though on other drugs) in the 50s, 60s, 70s
and 80s and then propose to lift Prohibition again in 2013.
The way I see it, prohibition NEVER ended; It just shifted from Alcohol to other drugs.
No need to say I am extremely sceptical of this development. Seeing is believing.

And it makes me wonder; What IF they significantly reduce prison sentences for non-violent,
drug-possessing people....Wouldn't they have to MASSIVELY compensate the millions of non-violent,
drug possessing people that are currently incarcerated on basis of injust
reasons and bold lies? At least they are to go free, but as a government & justice-system you can't (in good conscience)
release millions of injustly incarcerated people, say "sorry, we were wrong to lock you up" and NOT
compensate them for the YEARS of their life that your poor & harsh judgement has ruined.

Depositing a large amount of compensation-money on the accounts of those wronged would be the LEAST they could do.
Many of these injustly incarcerated people may have become traumatised and need Psychological help; This should be payed for too.

But MOST of all we must make sure that deceitfull, fearmongering, human rights-violating prohibitionists are punished for their crimes against humanity. They have consistently targeted, hunted down and mercylessly persecuted millions of innocent people, jailing them for most of their life & seizing all of their property. All of this based on lies and slander. As long as these prohibitionist monstrosities of "human beings" roam this planet freely, none of us are safe or free.

There is a wave of reason and rationality quietly sweeping across the united states. As others said here, finally!
I'm sure we all have friends, family, acquaintances,etc who have, or are, incarcerated for various non-violent drug offenses. It's terrible that families have been torn apart, victimized and abused by the state that is supposed to support them.
Drug users are subversive, according to the status quo, and that is an appellation that I personally won't argue with, but it causes our state a lot of anxiety.
We are being given some new freedoms, out seems, perhaps this is a result off generational change, perhaps folks are tired and the common attitude in America IS a subversive one at this point.

Or maybe they don't care of we get high because they hope we will not pay attention to what thread other hands is doing?

Pay attention!

It is certainly about time to behave realistically towards drug use and not just push zero tolerance type rhetoric; but it will be interesting to see how the private prison industry reacts to this. Incarcerated bodies == $$$ for them and their stockholders. Less bodies in prison will hurt their bottom line. Seeing itself as one of the paramount virtues of the modern world, The Almighty Dollar does not like to be shunned, even (especially ? ) in the name of justice.

That is hardly the case.

Violent crime has been steadily declining since we started keeping records. Yet spending on police and prisons increases every year.

We've now come to the sad state where "the land of the free" has more of it's citizens in cages than any other country on earth.

This isn't a "wave of reason and rationality", it's a sad example of "too little, too late" where a broken system finally takes a baby step towards changing direction before we go off a cliff.

We've finally let off the gas, so let's hope that someone is working towards actually applying the brakes.

Amen. Couldn't have worded it better myself.