Deb Shafto On Drugs

Texas has a wide range of candidates in the governor's race this year.   There is a libertarian who wants virtually no government, two corporate conservatives who want to maintain the status quo, and a progressive who wants to make government work for ordinary citizens.   Unfortunately, only the two corporate conservatives have a chance to be elected, because the media has convinced voters that a vote for any party except the Republicans and Democrats is a wasted vote.

I normally vote Democratic (and will vote for all down-ballot Democrats this year), but I just can't bring myself to vote for a corporate conservative multi-millionaire oil company executive like Bill White (the Democratic candidate for governor).   So I am supporting (and will vote for) the Green Party candidate -- Deb Shafto (pictured above).   I will not only be able to proudly cast my vote for a real progressive, but hopefully my vote will help the Green Party to get on the ballot next time without having to resort to passing around a petition for signatures.

I have already presented on this blog Ms. Shafto's positions on the economy, immigration and education.   Today I give you, in her own words, her position on drugs.

"There will probably always be those who commit crimes of passion, people whose emotions are so constricted that they feel it necessary to act out in ways society cannot accept. It has been our habit to treat such unfortunates with further cruelty, and sometimes even kill them. Experiments that treat with an aim to rehabilitate have found recidivism rates less than half of our conventional, be-mean-to-’em traditions. It works, there is no other answer.

Most of our non-white collar crime is caused by our country’s insatiable craving for drugs. The border warfare is about nothing else. We should have learned our lesson in the prohibition era, where the Mafia grew to such strength that we have been unable to stop them. Drug cartels now have navies and bring hard drugs into this country by submarine. In some Latin American countries, the drug lords have stronger forces that are better equipped than the governments themselves do.

When are we going to stop playing this deadly game? Let us standardize marijuana, tax it and sell it over the counter to adults. Admittedly, it is not good for you, but it is far less of a poison, far less toxic than alcohol. Hard drugs should be sold by prescription. Easy! The doctor says you can have it, you can have it and can have it at a cost that doesn’t require you to mug people to get your fix. In countries that use this “medical model” addicts remain employed, are not subject to jail time and commit fewer crimes."