Fulano and jabch,

At last we have entered common ground. I think the drug problem is caused by the U.S., period. And you know, it's not the poor or the racial minorities either.

My own niece and nephew, whose mother, my sister, waits on hand-and-foot, had to try drugs because their friends did. These kids aren't victims of poverty. They've had clean clothes, lots of food and a warm home all their lives. This makes me sick about the U.S. that over-indulged middle-class families are at the heart of the drug problem. Perhaps you can imagine the restraint I've shown by not doing my kin any physical harm?

The only excuse I can come up with as to why they could be so stupid is that one; no father, and two; the public education system here in the U.S. They both aren't very bright at all.

Bottom line. I feel outraged when I hear my friends say or see on TV etc. that drugs are a problem because of Colombia, Mexico or other Latin American countries. I think we could end the drug problem in about a week if we took draconian measure immediately. I've decided against being more graphic here.

Hey Gazpacho: Hope things are going well for you. Yesterday I was watching TV, I can't remember the channel, but they are planning on airing a program about a middle-class white teen-aged girl that is using heroin. I think they will show her doing the drug and then her going to rehab. I have to see it yet, but I don't think that kind of show is the way to go about convincing teenagers that this is wrong. Teenagers want to try what other teenagers try. I have two little kids and am scared to death about their becoming teenagers. I recently heard of a trend among American families to allow their 14 and 15 year old kids have sex at home. What's up with that!!!???? They say it is safer and they will get in less trouble, meaning the girls won’t get pregnant and the police won’t catch them doing it in the car, if the family provides the condoms and one room for the kids to have sex. The world is upside down! And you are right, I am talking about white, middle-class families, not the minority or ghetto type.

Fulano: I would be the last to deny that Nixon and Liddy had some problems with the law, and I never implied in the post that they did not. What has always amazed me about that incident is the fact of how quick Nixon was to give into the sitting Mexican President.

We do not have a drug problem in the US because of minorities or ghetto types. I do not have a clue what ghetto types are. We have a drug problem because of whites; they are the biggest drug users and abusers in the US. The jails have more minorities (non whites) in jail on drug possession of charges, because whites can afford better legal representation that keeps them out of jail.

Also whites are the ones inventing new forms of drugs to be abused. Speed, ecstasy, crack cocaine and other designer drugs are not invented by some poor black chemist in the ghetto.

Now Denver Colorado has just passed a law to legalize possession of small amounts of marijuana and this is not for medical use. ABC News Story On Denver

Soon it will not be a big deal in Denver if their children smoke pot. Their parents do and are setting an example for them.

Bill

I also read an interesting report that said that, because crack cocaine is so inexpensive compared to powdered cocaine that more minorities use that drug than powerdered. However, the prison sentences for crack cocaine are significantly harsher than powdered cocaine

http://www.drugwarfacts.org/crack.htm

This link talks about the different sentence (pena) guidelines for crack vs. powdered.

I would love to hear people's opinions about the claim that the difference in crack versus powdered sentences are actually racist because it punishes users of crack cocaine (who are, I guess, generally poor minorities) worse than powdered users who are, I guess, white and not so poor.

I don't quite get the connection but I guess some "experts" believe it to be a racist policy.

Do our friends in Europe have a different policy for crack vs. powdered cocaine?

And the reason for that is rac....!

It seems to me that drug laws are like, if you kill a man with a knife you get sentence to 10 years to prison. If you kill a man with a gun you get 20 years.

Now who writes the laws in this country? It is not the Blacks, not Hispanics and not the other minorities that deciding on sentencing terms. So if majority of blacks are using guns to kill people lets make harsher prison terms like monitory sentencing. I do not think there is mandatory sentencing for powered cocaine. Makes you wonder who are the biggest users and abusers of powered cocaine.

You want to be fair; anyone taking illegal drugs should be in jail and it should not be based on if it comes in powered form and crystal form.

Bill

That is the rational that I have heard before; regarding the existance of different punishments between crack and powdered form.

Wouldn't a racist policy need to be a deliberate policy against another race? To be racist, wouldn't the policy makers need to say, "You know, we just don't appreciate or like that minorities are on our streets and in our neighborhoods, so we are going to create this law that punishes them for doing basically the same thing that we white guys are doing but write the law in such a way that white people don't get caught up in the law"

It seems improbable that that could happen because, even if all Republicans were racist crackers, the Democratic members of the policy commitees would raise holy hell.

I guess my question is: Isn't there a difference between a racist law and a law that has unforseen consequences that punish/benefit one group more than another?

I don't know the answer to that.

Who will help us?

Well who is going to help those ....

This was taken of CNN Website Story

I do not know about you people or do you even care, but looking for a place to live takes time and is hard thing to do.

What made me mad reading this new story, is how they have to look for a place to live. How about my government give them a place to live and that would end the problem.

Well it time to fire off another letter to my US Senators and Congresswomen. None which I actually voted for!

One of my US Senators is loved and hated by many MM forum members.

Bill

On the news yesterday is was announce that the city were I live, New York City is not going to let my "government" kick out these displaced people amd they are not refugees!

So NYC city will pay for their hotels bills for another month after the FEMA will try to kicked these people kicked.

It nice to see the government officals having the holiday sprit. Kicking people out during Thanksgiving and Christmas. A government for and by the people that is what America is. Sad to say it, it says volumes about us as a nation and as a people when we do thingsl ike this!

Bill