California Proposition 47, which was passed by popular vote, removes the felony designation from those convicted of drug crimes. The argument for passage was that such people shouldn't be sent to jail for long terms for "health choices." They would have you believe that those convicted simply had a pinch too much of marijuana or a half-gram too much of meth on their possession when they were arrested by overbearing police.
The plain truth is that these are people who went beyond the simple possession of small amounts; they progressed into violence. Robbery and burglary became a method for obtaining the money needed to make drug purchases. The public became the victims of this "victimless health choice." People have been killed over, or because of, drugs. "Druggies" have not been hesitant to coerce the unwitting or minor children into becoming addicts in order to gain the drug sale income to support their own habits.
I grant that drug treatment and getting people off drugs is the preferred method of dealing with it, but those in jail on felony charges have by-and-large either tried and failed, or have refused to even try drug treatment.
We will now be faced with thousands of drug users being released from California prisons. One observer pointed out that we would be saving millions of dollars in over-crowded jails by letting these people out; I agree. We will also be faced with repeated drug-related crimes again and on a mounting scale. The reason you put people in jail is two-fold: to punish them for their crime and to keep them from repetition. Statistics overwhelmingly bear out my assertion that those who were in jail for drug-related crimes are more likely than any other segment of the jail population to end up back in prison again... for the same types of offenses.
This move goes beyond dumb. It's a typical liberal idea, ill-thought-out and poorly conceived.
That's MY AMERICAN OPINION, respectfully submitted.
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