Douglas enters Political Opportunist's Treatment ("POT") Diversion Program

Okay, we see the problem ... (0.00 / 0)

and it's very clear.

With less than a month to go in 2007, the state is on track to see around 80 deaths from drug overdoses this year, likely setting a record, according to Kerry Sleeper, commissioner of public safety.

That will be more people killed in Vermont from overdoses than from automobile accidents, Sleeper said.

Partly because of overtime from the number of drug crimes and anti-drug investigations, and partly because of steeply rising gasoline prices, the Vermont State Police will need an additional $1 million in the budget adjustment bill expected to be passed by lawmakers early next year.

("Drugs will kill more than cars", Times Argus, 12/13/07)

And ....

The Vermont Department of Corrections is considering closing one of the state's prisons and releasing some nonviolent offenders from state supervision as part of an effort to pare $4 million from next year's budget.

Those were two of the possibilities included in a message Corrections Commissioner Rob Hofmann sent to his staff Tuesday as he was delivering to state lawmakers a 150-page proposal to reduce the rate of growth of the Corrections budget.

Other budget-saving possibilities included making prisons more efficient, increasing work loads for prison staff, changing the way offenders are supervised in the community and expanding community treatment options.

("Drugs will kill more than cars", Times Argus, 12/13/07)

Hmmm ... "expanding community treatment options" ... didn't see that one coming.

Seem's the  Nixon launched war on the American people euphemistically referred to as the "drug war" isn't working out so well, and now our Governor is ... well ... conflicted.

Does he play hard nosed with a Democratic prosecutor from Windsor County? Or does he use common sense with a Republican prosecutor from Orange County? Should he make sure Bobby Sands doesn't overuse diversion so Douglas can lead the charge to make better use of diversion?

And, being as this is a pro-Democratic Party blog, what does the huge Democratic majority in the House and Senate do?

My bet: nothing much will change, and Nixon's war on the American people (aka 'drug war') will continue to be a major source of funding for the police, prison and their suppliers industries.

It's over at http://ramabahama.net ... only it's still under construction (but so is the rest of my life)

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by: Rama Schneider @ Thu Dec 13, 2007 at 11:38:24 AM UTC

I think you'll have to ask the Dem leadership, Rama (0.00 / 0)

Nate Freeman

Northfield, VT

natefreeman@gmail.com

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by: mydog @ Thu Dec 13, 2007 at 12:40:00 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

douglas doesn't want diversion, he wants the free ride (4.00 / 2)

We now know that there have been at least three incidents of Colchester police giving fellow officers free passes when they got caught driving drunk.  Instead of a drunk driving charge, the drunk officers were given a free ride home.

Funny, Governor Douglas seems quiet on this one.

I thought he was concerned about equitable application of our laws. And avoiding the appearance that those in positions of authority and trust are above the law.

Shouldn't he be calling for all drunk driving cop cases in Colchester to be referred directly to the Public Safety Commissioner?

I'm disappointed with Gov. Douglas. His "politics first" style is becoming too obvious to ignore or forgive. Especially --such as in the area of drug issues --when it hurts real people.

Bobby Sands, on the other hand, has been acting like a responsible grown up. The same goes for TJ Donovan. Donovan seems to be handling the Colchester police situation directly, but with dignity and restraint. He'd make a good governor.

I feel for the police officers. Their job is stressful on many levels. It would be hard to arrest a friend or fellow officer. Especially knowing that such an arrest would perhaps subject a police officer (and the department) to extra (and sometimes mean-spirited) ridicule.

Driving drunk can be deadly. It's far more serious than possessing or smoking marijuana. But I'd still favor court diversion and job probation for first offenders.

Court diversion isn't a free pass. It's an opportunity to take responsibility for what you've done, and earn a second chance.

Douglas seems to want to end the marijuana discussion because it isn't going his way politically. But he doesn't want to take responsibility for his transgressions or earn a second chance. He wants the free ride. I can't respect that.  

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by: Green Mountain 05401 @ Fri Dec 14, 2007 at 03:30:35 AM UTC

Money (0.00 / 0)

"My bet: nothing much will change, and Nixon's war on the American people (aka 'drug war') will continue to be a major source of funding for the police, prison and their suppliers industries."

Is there any way to find out just how much is coming to Vermont in funding for this war?  How many jobs now depend on it?  Does Douglas get reimbursed by the feds for every pot smoker he throws into the system?  Are the prisons going private now, or have they, where they need to lock people up to make a profit?  In some states they are private.  If marijuana is legalized, how many will lose their jobs?  It might be interesting to find out these things and then some, to see if this is why Douglas suddenly reached for the life preserver that Sands gave him. In the GOP realm its always about the money.  

When you wake up each morning look around you.  It might be the last time you get to do it.  

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by: Watercloset @ Fri Dec 14, 2007 at 07:51:04 AM UTC

The costs are nearly incalcuable (4.00 / 1)

The expenses of putting someone through the judicial system (police, attorneys, court, job losses, family toll, loss of future opportunity, hundreds of thousands of dollars in incarceration expenses etc. for starters) is a staggering amount.

The COSTS to society, in addition to the expenses to you and me, are truly immeasurable.

Among other costs, there is the future loss of income and societal contribution by the person incarcerated, the expenses incurred by the number of people who are paid by our taxes and who must use resources to attack a heath related education issue as a criminal issue (police, prison officials, other government workers). None of these people are giving back a "value-added" service to society when functioning strictly in this role. Tax money and resources allocated to, for instance, education, economic development, infrastructure upgrade, protecting/cleaning the evironment, are investments that add value and give a return, sometimes many times over, to sosicty. These are solid, proven investments.

By contrast, the resources poured down the hole of the war on people drugs, are lost forever and teh opportunity to constructively leverage those resources is lost forever.  It is literaly burning YOUR money.

Conversely, lost income, the damage to people's families, lost future careers and educational opportunities and lost opportunities to make contributions to society are another incalculably large "cost" to us that far exceeds the mere (and acknowledged) direct expenses of $40-80,000.00 per year keeping and moving suspects and convicts through the judicial and prison system.

Those expenses and the long-term real costs of this policy, of course, weigh on you.

sláinte,
cl

-- Religion is like sodomy: both can be harmless when practiced between consenting adults but neither should be imposed upon children.

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by: Caoimhin Laochdha @ Fri Dec 14, 2007 at 10:58:49 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

In just one area ... (4.00 / 1)

A number of years ago then Auditor Flannagan (sp??) did a survey of state & federal expenditures regarding marijuana eradication. Unfortunately I can no longer find it on the State Auditor's website.

A couple points really stood out: by a huge, huge margin (90% plus as I remember) marijuana eradication meant pulling ditch weed and had nothing to do with smokable pot; and nationwide (this was 1997 or '98 I believe) around $1 billion was spent doing this.

That's just to pull up ditchweed, a plant that has the drug abuse potential of a toilet paper role and helped make the world safe for democracy in WWII!

Somebody else already spoke to court costs, loss of job, break up of families, etc. Throw in extra police and prisons and those who supply equipment and court houses and more.

I don't think it would be possible to break out all the additional costs, but think of it this way ... under Clinton's watch of the 1990's (my emphasis):

The Number of marijuana related arrests dropped slightly in 1998 to 682,885, from 1997's record high of 695,200, according to the latest FBI Uniform Crime Report released on Sunday. Eighty-eight percent of those arrests were for possession.

Forty-four percent of all drug arrests nationwide were for marijuana, and one out of every 25 criminal arrests in the U.S. were for marijuana possession.

"The war on drugs is increasingly focused on seeking out and prosecuting otherwise law-abiding citizens who smoke marijuana," said Keith Stroup, NORML Executive Director. "It represents a gross misapplication of law enforcement resources that should be spent on serious and violent crime."

There were 6,985 more arrests for marijuana offenses last year than for all violent crimes combined, including murder, rape, robbery and aggravated assault.

Last year was the first drop in marijuana arrests since President Clinton took office. Marijuana arrests have risen 80 percent during the Clinton presidency, from a low of 380,399 in 1993. A total of 3,470,545 Americans have been arrested on marijuana charges during the Clinton administration.

(NORML using info from the FBI)

That's a lotta' expenses!

It's over at http://ramabahama.net ... only it's still under construction (but so is the rest of my life)

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by: Rama Schneider @ Sat Dec 15, 2007 at 10:32:55 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Imagine the damage this would do to the Douglas campaign... (0.00 / 0)

...if Douglas actually needed a campaign of some sort.

Argh.

Musician, Web Designer, Photographer

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by: JulieWaters @ Fri Dec 14, 2007 at 11:29:49 AM UTC

FWIW .. (0.00 / 0)

I expropriated the POT acronym and general line of thought in this thread for use in a letter to the editor ... just in case the Times Argus doesn't include my accrediting GMD when/if they print the letter.

It's over at http://ramabahama.net ... only it's still under construction (but so is the rest of my life)

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by: Rama Schneider @ Fri Dec 14, 2007 at 13:46:33 PM UTC

You are welcome to both n/t (0.00 / 0)

sláinte,
cl

-- Religion is like sodomy: both can be harmless when practiced between consenting adults but neither should be imposed upon children.

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by: Caoimhin Laochdha @ Fri Dec 14, 2007 at 22:52:41 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Thanks again (4.00 / 1)

Thanks to both here for all the figures and for both the tangible and intangible costs of our draconian war against marijuana.  It should be legalized, but cigarette manufacturers and synthetics fiber people would suffer economically because of it.

Was also wondering who is benefiting financially from all the money wasted on this needless war.  Is the state getting money from the feds for this, to help balance the budget and not raise taxes,  fund pet projects, whatever?  Is the prison system, for instance, lobbying for these laws to keep themselves employed?  

Just some thoughts.  

Thanks again.  

When you wake up each morning look around you.  It might be the last time you get to do it.  

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by: Watercloset @ Sun Dec 16, 2007 at 08:07:04 AM UTC

Benefit is not only financial (0.00 / 0)

for instance the prison industrial complex has been a big winner - just one example. Note that two years ago the fastest growing union in California (the world's sixth largest economy) was the prison guard union. For all I know, that is still the case.

The benefit & desired pay-off is also one of power.  During the "lull" between the cold war hysteria and the next "boogie-man to come hysteria, the military industrial complex used the war against people drugs to sell the idea that their high tech weaponry is/was still essential to protecting the homeland.  Whether it meant fighting "highly sophisticated" paramilitaries in marijuana-land or opium-ville, America was under imminent threat, or so the story went.

This military industrial complex push played into, and gave fuel to, the power dynamic.  Absent cold war and commie fueled fears to keep the sheep in line, government power whores needed another excuse to continue augmenting ascendant police powers and to continue eviscerating human/civil & constitutional rights.  The war on people disguised as a war on drugs provided the perfect narrative. In that brief waning cold war period and those pre-Islamofascism days of yore, the Invasion of the Substance Beholden Body Snatcher was the ONLY effective narrative in town to further the state power dynamic.

Sadly, the sheeple fell for the public health turned military narrative back then (and still do) as much as they've been on their knees about the hordes of Islamofascist Body Snatchers that turn them into cowardly putty today.

sláinte,
cl

-- Religion is like sodomy: both can be harmless when practiced between consenting adults but neither should be imposed upon children.

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by: Caoimhin Laochdha @ Mon Dec 17, 2007 at 10:48:22 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Letter (4.00 / 1)

They printed the letter.  It was in Dec. 15th edition.  Saw the GMD in parenthesis and had a good chuckle, wondering how many knew what that meant:)  

When you wake up each morning look around you.  It might be the last time you get to do it.  

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by: Watercloset @ Sun Dec 16, 2007 at 08:10:32 AM UTC

As printed in the Times Argus (4.00 / 2)

Douglas wrong on Sand's case

December 15, 2007

It seems Gov. Douglas is suffering a severe case of Political Opportunist Trouble or P.O.T. (thanks GMD). According to Douglas the Democratic State's Attorney from Windsor was a bad boy for using court diversion in a case involving growing marijuana while the Republican State's Attorney from Orange was quite right to use the same program for essentially the same charges. Should we throw Douglas in jail for some correction?

The governor's own administration says that would be a bad idea. Corrections Commissioner Hoffman is putting out suggestions for paring $4 million from the state's prison budget increase ("Corrections eyes closing a prison, need to cut $4 million, Dec. 13), and he seems to be floating some well-thought out ideas.

Among Hoffman's suggestions was "expanding community treatment options"! You know, kinda like diversion for first-time offenders caught growing a little marijuana for their own personal use.

I say we go with Hoffman's train of thought, and instead of jail time, offer Douglas a little community based POT diversion for his political gamesmanship and dishonesty. Elect a new governor in 2008.

Rama O.A. Schneider

Williamstown

They picked the headline. Hope I did enough to let the world know the POT acronym was not mine.

It's over at http://ramabahama.net ... only it's still under construction (but so is the rest of my life)

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by: Rama Schneider @ Sun Dec 16, 2007 at 10:36:38 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

I saw that yesterday. (0.00 / 0)

Good letter, Rama.

BTW, what's the "O.A." stand for?

You can read JD's latest at five before chaos. Politics. Godlessness. Music. Films of questionable quality. It's all there, folks.

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by: JDRyan @ Sun Dec 16, 2007 at 15:16:24 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Odyseuss Alaric (4.00 / 1)

It's over at http://ramabahama.net ... only it's still under construction (but so is the rest of my life)

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by: Rama Schneider @ Sun Dec 16, 2007 at 15:41:15 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Whoa... (0.00 / 0)

You had some rather imaginative parents, no doubt. Infinitely better than my hopelessly unoriginal John Dean Ryan.

You can read JD's latest at five before chaos. Politics. Godlessness. Music. Films of questionable quality. It's all there, folks.

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by: JDRyan @ Sun Dec 16, 2007 at 20:37:24 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Baruth takes a different view. (4.00 / 1)

Did anybody catch Philip's read on the Douglas/Sand issue?

Look, we'd like a new Governor as much as the next blog, but denying reality won't get it done: Jim Douglas worked the press, and this particular issue, exquisitely.

It's interesting how this issue played out in the headlines, too.  The Valley News seemed to suggest Douglas backed down to Sand.  Farther north and west, the headlines seemed to suggest the opposite.

Nate Freeman

Northfield, VT

natefreeman@gmail.com

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by: mydog @ Sun Dec 16, 2007 at 23:12:45 PM UTC

VDB sees different spin, Not necessarily different view of events (4.00 / 2)

In fact, VDB's post on this, while focusing on the political theater aspect of the Governor's motives and change of course, basically underscores the point made here.

1. The Governor did this as a PR stunt; and
2. When the stunt backfired, the Governor did a quick retreat and surrender all the while spinning it as a victory.

Admittedly, VDB, is far too impressed with the form of the Governor's stunt, and seems to miss the substance of how the stunt eventually played out and then backfired like an an exploding joint cigar in the Governor's face.  

Dan Barlow ultimately gets the credit on this one for nailing the substantive dance. Barlow's article did a good job noting that Sand's "apology" only covered anything Sand may have said that might have "contributed to that perception or misperception" about his office procedures.  

In other words, Sand's missive addressed the self inflicted (and likely intentional) "misperceptions" that both the Republicans at WCAX and the Governor pushed into the public sphere and which alleged a non-existent "blanket" office policies in Sand's office. (And had such a policy existed, it would hardly have justified the Governor's grandstanding.)

Still, VDB seems to be spinning this - inexplicably - in the best possible light for the Governor:

With Sand's apology in hand, Douglas can plausibly claim that he bridled a runaway State's Attorney, and saved our youth from the Gateway Drug, yet move nimbly away from the issue before Sand's supporters have fully mobilized.

Barlow's article should rightly have been slugged: "Douglas Secures Apology, Burnishes Anti-Drug Bona Fides." That gets to more of the meat of it.

VDB is correct that using well crafted talking points, such as those crafted by VDB, WAS the Governor's intent. Substantively, however, the attempted plot backfired against the Governor thus making it unlikely he will return to the issue with anyone's talking points in hand.

The Governor's willingness to completely embrace a passive-aggressive "I'm sorry you did not understand what you're were talking about" email from Bobby Sand showed how badly the Governor wanted to bury this incident. The facts, the Governor's clear political motive given GOP prosecutors engaging in similar discretion, and pubic opinion (including many in law enforcemnt and the AG's office and the U.S. attorney's office) falling squarely in Bobby Sand's camp, caused the Governor to look for the nearest exit he could find.

Now that the Governor has extricated himself from a mess of his own making (with Bobby Sand's help no less), the Governor has no interest in returning to it. Don't expect him to ask the headline writers at the TA to reevaluate their analytically astute take on this incident either.

sláinte,
cl

-- Religion is like sodomy: both can be harmless when practiced between consenting adults but neither should be imposed upon children.

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by: Caoimhin Laochdha @ Mon Dec 17, 2007 at 02:52:20 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Get it (0.00 / 0)

LOL...wonder if the right wing will get that POT acronym:)


When you wake up each morning look around you.  It might be the last time you get to do it.  

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by: Watercloset @ Tue Dec 18, 2007 at 07:44:55 AM UTC

Thanks Much (0.00 / 0)

Thanks again CL.  I had forgotten about that prison guard union out there in California.  

I agree about the military-industrial complex using the war on drugs to go after more power and more money and to keep the people in line in a crusade against a threat, a holy war, if you will, that these people need to take more and more away and make us believe that their cause is ours.  They need wars and killing to justify their power, yet to so few seem to question it.

I was wondering why Douglas is going after the war on drugs here in Vermont in the same way.  Is it an excuse to keep us sheep in line here, believing that a republican victory every two years will keep the red-white-and blue preserved with no new taxes?  Is it to help balance the budget, sacrificing people into the prison system to seem like he is not raising taxes and balancing the budget, plus keeping the employment numbers up in the prison system?  

Thanks much again.  As usual, the great sayings of the all the famous American documents are really smokescreens, veils, for how they have been corrupted from within.  This war on pot is just another example.  

Thanks again.  

When you wake up each morning look around you.  It might be the last time you get to do it.  

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by: Watercloset @ Tue Dec 18, 2007 at 07:58:46 AM UTC