Re:America’s ‘quiet catastrophe’: Millions of idle men
by mveety on Wednesday October 05, 2016 @09:19PM
(#12649389)
Yeah, exactly. Ending the war on drugs doesn't change that the US has fucked millions of people, prevented them from getting employed, then blamed them for most of this.
Drug testing prior to/during employment doesn't help the matter, either. A cook as a McDonald's doesn't need to be drug tested. Neither does a programmer. The country is full of this moralistic and paternalistic garbage, as is parts of the world within its sphere of influence (like the worst offenders in SE Asia (Singapore, Phillipines, Thailand, etc.)).
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Re:America’s ‘quiet catastrophe’: Millions of idle men
by michaelchisari on Wednesday October 05, 2016 @09:32PM
(#12649452)
A big part of ending the drug war needs to be some form of restitution and reconciliation.
Commuting non-violent felony drug charges to class A misdemeanors would be a huge first step.
Re:America’s ‘quiet catastrophe’: Millions of idle men
by mveety on Saturday October 08, 2016 @04:28AM
(#12666165)
Im not sure it's possible to legislate that (iirc it's in article 1 of the constitution, ex postfacto I think it's called). The executive branch could do it because that has near unlimited power to pardon.
I'm not sure any of this is politically viable because of the moralistic bullshit and the "hard on crime" bullshit. I have few hopes that any of this will change. Plus, many of these people have more offenses added on in prison because of what it does to and potentially requires of people. It seems to make a non-violent offender into a more violent person with no hope because of the bigotry we have towards former prisoners.
I really want step one to be cleaning up prisons so they actually help people, instead of being crucibles of hatred staffed by sadistic meatheads. Step two can be getting rid of immoral laws and trying to get these people out.