Mayor Pete Wants to Decriminalize ‘Meth, Coke, Ecstasy’ And Heroin

[Chrystal-J]

Pete Buttigieg is mayor of South Bend, Indiana.

The crime rate in South Bend is higher than 96% of all U.S. cities, according to city-data.com. Drugs are rampant in the city, which lies east of Chicago. The incarceration rate is also soaring in Indiana, according to prisonpolicy.org.

So, of course, it makes sense that Buttigieg, who is running for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, wants to legalize all kinds of drugs.

“Incarceration should not even be a response to drug possession,” Buttigieg told editors and reporters at the Des Moines Register.

“Is that across the board? So if it’s meth or coke or ecstasy, any drugs, if it’s possession, incarceration isn’t…” one editor asked.

“That’s right,” Buttigieg said.

Link: BRILLIANT: Mayor Pete Wants to Decriminalize 'Meth, Coke, Ecstasy' And Heroin

 

[Halbhh]

Pete Buttigieg is mayor of South Bend, Indiana.

The crime rate in South Bend is higher than 96% of all U.S. cities, according to city-data.com. Drugs are rampant in the city, which lies east of Chicago. The incarceration rate is also soaring in Indiana, according to prisonpolicy.org.

So, of course, it makes sense that Buttigieg, who is running for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, wants to legalize all kinds of drugs.

“Incarceration should not even be a response to drug possession,” Buttigieg told editors and reporters at the Des Moines Register.

“Is that across the board? So if it’s meth or coke or ecstasy, any drugs, if it’s possession, incarceration isn’t…” one editor asked.

“That’s right,” Buttigieg said.

Link: BRILLIANT: Mayor Pete Wants to Decriminalize 'Meth, Coke, Ecstasy' And Heroin

I was like what? (not that I was thinking of voting for him anyway, but still it was surprising)

But, we can get a bit more of what he was thinking from the very next paragraph past what you quoted above:

“I would not have said even five years ago what I believe now, which is that incarceration should not even be a response to drug possession,” said Buttigieg, who earned degrees from both Harvard University and Oxford University. “What I’ve seen is that while there continue to be all kinds of harms associated with drug possession and use, it’s also the case that we have created — in an effort to deal with what amounts to a public health problem — we have created an even bigger problem. A justice problem and its form of a health problem.”

So, it seems Buttigieg wants a better way to end drug use than this current way of just put them in prison.

Congress and Trump took a big first step in that direction --

The First Step Act, explained
The measure, which Trump signed into law, is the most significant criminal justice reform legislation in years.
https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/...-trump-first-step-act-criminal-justice-reform
In his State of the Union speech on Tuesday, President Donald Trump held up criminal justice reform legislation as one of his big accomplishments.

“This legislation reformed sentencing laws that have wrongly and disproportionately harmed the African-American community,” Trump said. “The First Step Act gives nonviolent offenders the chance to reenter society as productive, law-abiding citizens. Now, states across the country are following our lead. America is a nation that believes in redemption.”

So, Buttigedge is sort of recycling and/or extending this already widely accepted idea that our drug-use prison sentencing was not proportionate -- to the idea that any incarceration is not the best solution....?

So, that implies he thinks just flat out that treating the addiction is better?

I think that would be a very interesting position: cure them instead of jailing them.

Could it work? Perhaps studies could answer that question.

 

[Chrystal-J]

They have a program called "Hope Not Handcuffs" here. You have to turn yourself into a police station and they will refer you to a substance abuse center. But, if you're caught with drugs on the street, you'll still go to jail. In some cases, I think that's a good thing because you can get clean there--whether you want to or not. I've known so many OD deaths, it's really sad.

 

[Halbhh]

They have a program called "Hope Not Handcuffs" here. You have to turn yourself into a police station and they will refer you to a substance abuse center. But, if you're caught with drugs on the street, you'll still go to jail. In some cases, I think that's a good thing because you can get clean there--whether you want to or not. I've known so many OD deaths, it's really sad.

Sounds like what South Bend needs more of there.

 

[iluvatar5150]

Pete Buttigieg is mayor of South Bend, Indiana.

The crime rate in South Bend is higher than 96% of all U.S. cities, according to city-data.com. Drugs are rampant in the city, which lies east of Chicago. The incarceration rate is also soaring in Indiana, according to prisonpolicy.org.

So, of course, it makes sense that Buttigieg, who is running for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, wants to legalize all kinds of drugs.

“Incarceration should not even be a response to drug possession,” Buttigieg told editors and reporters at the Des Moines Register.

“Is that across the board? So if it’s meth or coke or ecstasy, any drugs, if it’s possession, incarceration isn’t…” one editor asked.

“That’s right,” Buttigieg said.

Link: BRILLIANT: Mayor Pete Wants to Decriminalize 'Meth, Coke, Ecstasy' And Heroin

It’s sad and amusing that their big rebuttal comes from a guy who helped ramp up the failed war on drugs.

 

[Gwendolynz]

Pete Buttigieg is mayor of South Bend, Indiana.

The crime rate in South Bend is higher than 96% of all U.S. cities, according to city-data.com. Drugs are rampant in the city, which lies east of Chicago. The incarceration rate is also soaring in Indiana, according to prisonpolicy.org.

So, of course, it makes sense that Buttigieg, who is running for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, wants to legalize all kinds of drugs.

“Incarceration should not even be a response to drug possession,” Buttigieg told editors and reporters at the Des Moines Register.

“Is that across the board? So if it’s meth or coke or ecstasy, any drugs, if it’s possession, incarceration isn’t…” one editor asked.

“That’s right,” Buttigieg said.

Link: BRILLIANT: Mayor Pete Wants to Decriminalize 'Meth, Coke, Ecstasy' And Heroin

In frustration, I've wondered if all the illegal drugs should be legal? That way the smart will see a problem and get help either not getting on them or to get off them. The rest will die, as sad as that is.

 

[FireDragon76]

In frustration, I've wondered if all the illegal drugs should be legal? That way the smart will see a problem and get help either not getting on them or to get off them. The rest will die, as sad as that is.

You do realize that legal drugs like tobacco and alcohol kill far more people that illegal drugs in the US?

The criminalization of drugs is not about public safety or public health, it's about moralism.

 

[Nithavela]

You do realize that legal drugs like tobacco and alcohol kill far more people that illegal drugs in the US?

The criminalization of drugs is not about public safety or public health, it's about moralism.

And about maintaining a healthy prison population to keep the prison industry in buisness.

 

[Gwendolynz]

You do realize that legal drugs like tobacco and alcohol kill far more people that illegal drugs in the US?

The criminalization of drugs is not about public safety or public health, it's about moralism.

I would not be surprised if "Prescription" Drugs kill more people than street drugs. Over the years Doctors have tried to get me to take drugs with awful side effects. I don't know where this ends.

 

[Chrystal-J]

With cigarettes, as bad as they are, at least there's time to quit. The people I know here (in Detroit) are just gone one day due to an overdose. I'd like to see more rehab centers so people don't have to sit on long waiting lists. But you can't just let drugs run wild in the streets. I've seen too many people either lose their minds or their lives over it.

 

[Norbert L]

Could it work? Perhaps studies could answer that question.

Here's someone claiming the results are mixed.
Drug decriminalisation in Portugal: setting the record straight. - Transform Drug Policy Foundation

 

[FireDragon76]

With cigarettes, as bad as they are, at least there's time to quit. The people I know here (in Detroit) are just gone one day due to an overdose. I'd like to see more rehab centers so people don't have to sit on long waiting lists. But you can't just let drugs run wild in the streets. I've seen too many people either lose their minds or their lives over it.

Decriminalization doesn't mean there can't be social or legal sanctions for drug use, it just means that using drugs wouldn't be a felony crime.

 

[Desk trauma]

Not as good as Yang but at least he's willing to break away from the drug war dogma.

 

[Halbhh]

In frustration, I've wondered if all the illegal drugs should be legal? That way the smart will see a problem and get help either not getting on them or to get off them. The rest will die, as sad as that is.

You mean the legal opioids the pharmaceutical companies have killed thousands with while focusing on extra profits?

 

[SimplyMe]

I take it the OP is false? From what I'm seeing, he doesn't want to decriminalize these drugs but instead remove jail time for possession of small amounts of drugs, and replace that with rehab. Do I have that correct, and is that really a bad thing?

 

[variant]

I take it the OP is false? From what I'm seeing, he doesn't want to decriminalize these drugs but instead remove jail time for possession of small amounts of drugs, and replace that with rehab. Do I have that correct, and is that really a bad thing?

Yeah, the guy thinks that throwing people in jail because they have a drug problem is counterproductive.

Such ideas can not be allowed, as they value human life over punitive moralizing punishment. The police state has to be maintained even if there are better ideas.

 

[Speedwell]

I take it the OP is false? From what I'm seeing, he doesn't want to decriminalize these drugs but instead remove jail time for possession of small amounts of drugs, and replace that with rehab. Do I have that correct, and is that really a bad thing?

Yes, because many people might be tempted see such programs as a reasonable alternative to an ideological "punitive" approach to drug abuse. That is why they must be painted as extremest decriminalization.

 

[Gwendolynz]

Yeah, the guy thinks that throwing people in jail because they have a drug problem is counterproductive.

Such ideas can not be allowed, as they value human life over punitive moralizing punishment. The police state has to be maintained even if there are better ideas.

And punishment work so well don't they?

 

[Nithavela]

I take it the OP is false? From what I'm seeing, he doesn't want to decriminalize these drugs but instead remove jail time for possession of small amounts of drugs, and replace that with rehab. Do I have that correct, and is that really a bad thing?

If you're owning a prison company, yes.

 

[variant]

And punishment work so well don't they?

Not as well as treating drug addiction like a medical or psychological issue.

The only real justification for the current state of affairs is that some people can't help but have the satisfaction that the justice system is there to brutalize those deemed inferior by the moral majority.