As Maine lurches from 1 legislative conference to yet another, it becomes predictable for the media to sit back and choose which bill is valid and which a waste of time. Obtaining been each a legislator and editorial writer, I have an appreciation of the urgings that drive in cooperation.

In a word, each are seeking for that Hegelian moment that will shed light on the wisdom or ridiculousness of the status quo.

Making Criminals Out of Pot Smokers:

The status quo of our prison technique in the US is 1 of making criminals out of drug offenders. Pot smokers who go on to new and privileged experiences usually learn themselves on the incorrect side of the law. As soon as they get into the penal system, they are honestly greatly ruined for life.

As a result, with five% of the world’s population, we boast 25% of the world’s prisoners, a huge percentage of whom started their journey downhill by self-medicating their mental illnesses with cannabis.

Legalize the Stuff!

Rep. Dianne Russell (D-Portland) addresses the prison growth business with a bill that would legalize and tax the recreational development and use of cannabis. The stated objective is to raise revenue and minimize the price of law enforcement and corrections. The bill has the aid of ACLU-ME.

On cue, the press declares such a bill a colossal waste of time on the grounds that pot, getting a controlled substance, is regulated by the federal government.

Debate a Colossal Waste of Time?

Is here no merit in raising debate on prison overcrowding in Maine? Each and every “waste-of-time” bill that focuses on a key social problem helps educate the public on the unintended consequences of in cooperation the status quo and modify.

I can consider of a amount of such “waste-of-time” legislative measures in the past. In 2003, the Maine administration passed a non-strip resolution that questioned the President of the United States to exhaust all earnings of skill before going into Iraq on the grounds that here might, God forbid, be no WMD’s in Iraq. What emerged was exposure of stinkin thinkin on each sides of the aisle.

Gay wedding ceremony was yet another “waste-of-time” initiative. Maine could legalize gay wedding ceremony, but handful of of the proposed civil civil rights rewards would flow to gay couples till the federal government complied. But, devoid of the debate forced by a bill, we would lumber on in our ignorance. With the debate, the ignorance or wisdom of everyone on in cooperation sides of the concern emerges.

The War on Drugs is a War on Us!

Rep. Russell has sneaked into the legislative approach a bill that ought to alarm Mainers – not about legalizing pot, but about our prison culture. The war on crime and drugs has turned us into a control state. Our prisons are full to overflowing with non-violent would-be sons and daughters of liberty being turned into rebels by our largest growth promote – corrections.

Simply because Maine holds the largest proportion of colorless, suburban, employed and passive (peaceful) citizens in the state, targets to nosh the prison growth sector are moving closer and closer to home.

LD 1095 a Gateway Drug:

LD 1095 is the gateway drug destined to partner Maine with such states as Arizona in tucking away undesirables with out adverse publicity. Passage will allocate Corrections Corporation of America to make a private prison in rural Maine to residence illegal immigrants.

Inhabitant Public Radio’s Laura Sullivan reported in October, 2010, that Arizona’s infamous alien law, SB 1070, originated from and was heavily lobbied by the private prison promote. A single of the essential players in that drama was Corrections Corporation of America, the driving break down behind Maine’s LD 1095.

In brief, CCA will mend a federal prison in Maine if the Corrections Official, Joseph Ponte, a former worker of CCA, will be offered discretionary authority to ship prisoners out of state. It would be incredibly less costly and quieter to send our chronic pot smokers to CCA conveniences than to flounder around with an ole boy arrangement that is 100 years out of date.

We could keep locking ‘em up devoid of screening our dirty laundry!

Rep. Russell delivers an chance for debate more than our wisdom or ridiculousness in locking up our rebellious neighbors. As a rebel in my own proper, I am for commence debate, even for pot smoking and whoopie pies.

With out the debate, the men and women perish in their ignorance.