WAR ON DRUGS IS FUTILE

Second-degree robbery is considered non-violent because no weapons
are involved and no injuries are incurred. Second-degree assault can
be an offense ranging from a monumental barroom brawl to a simple
shoving of someone out of the way. If we hadn't taken the discretion
away from our judges by tying their hands in "3-strikes-you're-out"
cases, they would/could know who is deserving of spending their life
in prison and who is not. Of the 280 now incarcerated under
"3-strikes," about 200 were convicted of low-level crimes, such as
second-degree robbery and second-degree assault, that do not merit
life imprisonment.

Our prisons are bursting at the seams with these people, mentally ill
people, and those convicted of drug crimes. Our futile 40-year "war
on drugs" has filled our prisons and made a lot of shady people very
rich. As with alcohol prohibition that was repealed because of the
crime and corruption it caused, our drug prohibition should go the
same way due to the crime and corruption that it is causing. That
would be the way to get rid of the drug dealers, drug lords, and drug cartels.

Michaela Mosteller

Cathlamet