Prison Crusade

In an article by Christopher Hayes that appeared in the April 15, 2009 edition of The Nation, we are told of efforts by Senator James Webb of Virginia to bring reform to existing criminal justice policy through a bill he introduced in the Senate called the National Criminal Justice Commission Act of 2009. The senator noted, in a tour of the Bragg Hill Family Life Center, which provides social services to ex-offenders in Fredericksburg, Virginia, that the United States has “5% of the world’s population and 25% of the people in prison.” He particularly scoffed at the widespread imprisonment of non-violent drug offenders, saying “I saw more drug use at Georgetown University Law Center when I was a student there than I’ve seen anywhere else in my life … and some of those people are judges.”

While I agree with what the senator is trying to accomplish, I disagree with one of the author’s major contentions. The fact that a politician, who in the past consistently sided with the right in social policy, is now calling for reform, does not necessarily signal that the culture wars may be drawing to a close. On the contrary, as I understand the article, no one is advocating a change in direction as it relates to violent crimes – murder, rape, robbery, child molestation, etc – but rather taking a common-sense approach to the decriminalization, or at least relaxation of laws pertaining to certain non-violent, drug offences – particularly regarding marijuana. I have actually heard of violent criminals in the state of Kentucky being released early from their sentences in order to make room for the incarceration of non-violent drug offenders!

How do the demonization of marijuana (which I don’t use, condone, or advocate) and its overzealous prosecution affect an average citizen like me? Every year I am routinely monitored by government helicopters (federal, state, or county, I know not) while working in my garden (to assure that I am tending a legal crop, no doubt). In fact, this last summer, I was paid a not-so-friendly visit by three of Menifee county’s finest, who after succinctly announcing that they would hurt my dog if I didn’t chain it up, went on to proclaim that they had seen marijuana from the air growing down by the barn. Naturally, I told them I had nothing to hide, and after an hour of searching, they sheepishly admitted that ragweed, which they did find, often looks like marijuana from the air. So they left me with an overwhelming urge to “vote the rascals out”, come election day, and when I saw the high sheriff, I chided him,” I thought I had my ragweed patch well hid, but your boys found it”. But seriously, does the government’s obsession with this plant justify the incessant surveillance that Kentuckians are subjected to every growing season? Perhaps Senator Webb’s Criminal Justice Commission Act of 2009 can answer this question.