SentLTE-Digest Saturday, August 31 2013 Volume 13 : Number 032
001 LTE: 'Sensible Washington Wants All Drug Possession Crimes to Be Misdem
From: John Chase <>
002 LTE: 'Mandatory Minimums: For Worst Drug Offenders'
From: John Chase <>
003 LTE: Re: 'U. S. to leave pot laws alone' (8-30-13)
From: Kirk Muse <>
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subj: 001 LTE: 'Sensible Washington Wants All Drug Possession Crimes to Be Misdemeanors'
From: John Chase <>
Date: Wed, 28 Aug 2013 06:48:20 -0700
Editors -
Re: Matt Driscoll's report "Sensible Washington Wants All Drug
Possession Crimes to Be Misdemeanors"
http://www.seattleweekly.com/news/thedailyweekly/948545-129/washington
Matt mentions that Kevin Sabet is not sold on the idea that all drugs be
defelonized. Mr. Sabet argues that low level users are not sent to
prison. True; instead, they avoid a felony record by agreeing to help
police set up someone else, thus doing the dangerous work the police
don't like to do. That's how Rachel Hoffman got herself killed by two
distributors near Tallahassee five years ago. If police have no
distributor on their radar, they pressure an arrestee to set up another
low-level user, someone like Rachel, and they, in turn, avoid a felony
record. Sabat, as Director of the Drug Policy Institute at the
University of Florida, should know of this dynamic, but chooses not to
discuss it. The drug war is not about drugA vs drugB vs drugC. The drug
war is about how low-level users are threatened with a felony record
unless they cooperate. I have some standing: I live in the same town as
Rachel's father and have spoken with him.
John Chase
727 787 3085
1620 E Dorchester Dr
Palm Harbor, FL 34684
- --
To unsubscribe from sentlte, visit http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
or send a message to containing the command:
unsubscribe sentlte
------------------------------
Subj: 002 LTE: 'Mandatory Minimums: For Worst Drug Offenders'
From: John Chase <>
Date: Wed, 28 Aug 2013 14:46:19 -0700
Editors -
Your editorial "Mandatory Minimums: For Worst Drug Offenders" presents
the dollar cost. Equally important is the social cost.
Mandatory minimums enable prosecutors to threaten a low-level drug
arrestee with a sentence so long that the arrestee will agree to almost
anything to avoid it. It is called "providing substantial assistance",
and it usually means turning in someone else, often another low-level
user, sometimes a violent distributor. Either way, it is bad social
policy. If the target is another low level user, the cycle of
substantial assistance can repeat itself. If the target is a violent
person, it can get the arrestee killed. That happened 5 years ago to
Rachel Hoffman when she agreed to help Tallahassee police set up two
violent drug dealers. Mandatory sentencing law is bad policy, whether
based on dollar cost or social cost.
John G. Chase
727 787 3085
1620 E Dorchester Dr
Palm Harbor, FL 34684
- --
To unsubscribe from sentlte, visit http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
or send a message to containing the command:
unsubscribe sentlte
------------------------------
Subj: 003 LTE: Re: 'U. S. to leave pot laws alone' (8-30-13)
From: Kirk Muse <>
Date: Sat, 31 Aug 2013 10:25:39 -0700
To the Editor of The Wall Street Journal:
So Sen. Chuck Grassley (R., Iowa) thinks allowing states to regulate and
control marijuana sends the wrong message. What message do we send when
we allow
states to regulate and control tobacco that contains nicotine? Our
annual tobacco vs marijuana kill ratio is greater than 400,000 to zero.
Kirk Muse
1741 S. Clearview Ave.
Mesa, AZ 85209
(480) 396-3399
Thank you for considering this letter for publication.
- --
To unsubscribe from sentlte, visit http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
or send a message to containing the command:
unsubscribe sentlte
------------------------------
End of SentLTE-Digest V13 #32
*****************************
Mark Greer () ___ ___ _ _ _ _
Media Awareness Project /' _ ` _ `\ /'_`)('_`\
P. O. Box 651 | ( ) ( ) |( (_| || (_) )
Porterville, CA 93258 (_) (_) (_) \__,_)| ,__/
(800) 266-5759 | |
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/lists/ (_)
|
