CLASS DETERMINES SECOND CHANCES IN DRUG CASES

When I first heard about Rush Limbaugh's drug addiction, I laughed.

I laughed at the blatant hypocrisy of it. I breathed in the beautiful irony
and silently hoped he would be kicked off the air for good.

Mr. Tough-on-drugs Limbaugh is a junkhead after all, I gloated.

I quickly realized, however, that I too was being hypocritical.

I had made a mistake in judgment by laughing at another human's misfortune.

Unfortunately, some of us must pay for our mistakes, while others get a
second, third, ten millionth chance.

If Limbaugh were a working-class black man, he would be in the slammer
faster than you could say "Rockefeller laws."

But he's not. He's a rich white guy, and for that, he gets another chance.

I'm not disputing that. Everyone deserves a chance at redemption.

Case in point: According to The Fountainhead, slavery wasn't all that bad.

The Yankees and the Red Sox carried themselves with about as much
respectability as a pack of drunken baboons in heat over OU-Texas weekend.

Thank God this is a free country, where we are allowed to print ignorance in
our newspapers and allow sports rivalries to blossom into physical violence.

Since 1990, six million people have been incarcerated for marijuana
offenses.

Jeb Bush's daughter gets a slap on the hand and rehab for forging
prescriptions.

People die from pill overdoses all the time.

Marijuana has never killed a single human being, other than the law
enforcement officials who attempt to put a stop to the black market that
carries the trade of marijuana.

In this case, legalization would save lives, plain and simple.

It would kill the black market immediately. The government could tax it,
regulate it, pay off the national debt, cut crime in half and save room in
our prisons for rapists, murderers and corporate criminals (who don't have
ties to the Bush administration, of course).

When social status determines whether or not someone gets a second chance or
not, it's time to rethink our drug laws, which often do more harm than good.

The only reason marijuana is illegal in the first place is not for safety
and health reasons, but because the corporations couldn't patent it.
Seriously. Look it up.

It all comes down to redemption. Chances are, someone you love occasionally
gets high.

Someone who is an intelligent, moral contributor to society. Someone who
doesn't deserve to sit in a prison, whether they are rich, white talk show
hosts or poor Mexican farmers.

So I've decided to do the right thing.

Limbaugh, I'm offering you a chance to redeem yourself.

Swallow your pride, back off your hard-line conservative stance on drug
abuse, and use your influence to allow all the people who might suddenly
find themselves in your position a second chance, no matter their social
background.

You screwed up and became addicted to drugs. We know it's not because of
chronic back pain: you brag about your golf swing too much.

I never thought I'd say this, but I hope you make it through this in one
piece.

This is America, and everyone needs another shot sometimes. Thank God this
is a free country.