Drug War Issues
Sheriffs gone wild, narcs gone greedy, a jail guard gone horny, and a couple of jail guards gone dumb. Let's get to it:
seized cash
In Mineola, New York, a Long Island corrections officer was arrested December 30 for extorting sexual favors from female inmates. Mark Barber is accused of using his position as grievance officer for the Nassau County Correctional Center to engage in various sexual activities for females. Authorities said Barber targeted inmates with histories of drug abuse, prostitution, or mental health issues. He faces various counts of rape, sexual abuse, and forcible touching and could get up to 16 years in prison if convicted.
In Eufala, Alabama, the Eufala Police narcotics division commander was arrested December 29 for allegedly stealing money that had been seized and was awaiting an asset forfeiture hearing. Lt. Stephen Hanners went down after $20,000 went missing and investigators soon zeroed in on him. He is charged with first degree theft of property. Hanners resigned upon his arrest.
In Lexington, South Carolina, a Lexington County jail guard was arrested December 31 for bringing marijuana and cigarettes to a prisoner. Guard Phillip Fields was accused of conspiring with a woman who was also arrested. The woman left the contraband in Fields' car while he was at work, then he would retrieve the goodies during his shift and smuggle them into the jail. He got busted bringing the contraband in. Fields is charged with two counts furnishing contraband to a prisoner and furnishing drugs to a prisoner, two counts of misconduct in office, and one count of marijuana possession.
In New York City, a Rikers Island jail guard was arrested last Friday as she tried to smuggle drugs, alcohol, and tobacco into the prison. Guard Teneya Griffith, 25, went down after fellow corrections officers went to authorities about their suspicions she was compromised. She got caught with two ounces of weed, three water bottles filled with vodka, and tobacco and cigarettes. According to prosecutors, Griffith was to earn $800 to $900 for her efforts. She is charged with first degree felony promoting prison contraband, misdemeanor promoting prison contraband, marijuana possession, and official misconduct. She faces up to seven years for the felony.
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Comments
What as trip to go from one
What as trip to go from one side of the prison system to the other. I can imagine the ex officer sitting there saying. I used to be fingerprinting you guys...now I am one of you guys. Do you think his sheriff buddies will smile at him? Life is funny
Socialized Medicine for a Purpose
At the present time, 76% of all addictions treatment is provided by State and Federal Funding. The agencies that contract with the State and/or Federal Agencies to provide services usually provide outpatient services and do not have facilities for inpatient medical detoxification. To get into a State and Federally Funded inpatient, medically supervised, detoxification program will put an individual in need (such as an alcoholic on the verge of DT's) on a waiting list and it can take as much as six to eight months to get a bed. This is Socialized Medicine in action. The outpatient treatment is by and large a "money-go-round" that rarely produces much better than unfunded 12-Step programs, as far as successful outcomes. That would put their long-term success rate at around 12% to 14%. They rarely do outcome studies so no one really knows for sure, however; the courts are well aware of the rates of recidivism and yet have been unable to do anything about the problem.
The unbelievable growth in the "Criminal Justice System" since 1971, when the ONDCP was established, has become a nightmare. It has cost trillions of dollars and ruined the lives of hundreds of millions of Americans alone. Money, Power and Greed drives the invisible machine that, as I see it, is just as bad as the "Holocaust", but in a more invisible and protacted manner. Hidden by the "need to rid the nation of drunks and druggies" the general public has been duped just as they are being duped by the "Global Warming Hoax". We live in a land of "Lemmings on Parade"!
For those of us who value the strength of truth and are unafraid to use it in defense of what is right, the "War on Drugs" will be stopped, and those responsible will be held accountable in every legal and financial way possible.
The time is near and, as a long-time Professional Addictions Futurist, much closer than many may realize. Full legalization, regulation, and fair taxation of marijuana is but the first doorway. I have predicted this for 15 years and we are now only 3 to 4 years away from that prediction if that long.
Due to the long-term hold that socialized medicine has had in the field of addictions, the antiquated psychosocial form of a 12-Step program has been used to assure that the outcomes remain in line with AA, NA, and other forms of 12-Step programs. This insures that few get well and the big "Money-go-Round" continues. This assures the Criminal Justice System of steady jobs, good pay, benefits and retirement all in the name of "Doing What is Right for The Citizens (and non-citizens) of our Great Nation". This keeps money in the pockets of organized crime and international illicit drug trade. It make a very "Dirty Triad" of National and International Organized Illicit Drug Trade (don't forget that the Kennedy Clan Patriarch, Joseph Kennedy, was a Bootlegger during Prohibition), Socialized Medicine in Addiction Treatment Programs, and the Criminal Justice System in all of its forms from the ONDCP on through the DOC right on down to the Defense Attorneys. This is a $900 billion per year GDP Monster.
Now, here is the real shocker. As I noted, marijuana "will be the Gateway Drug" much to the dismay of many. The Federal Government and the current Administration have worked themselves into an economic corner and will use, just as was done during Prohibition, the legalization, control, taxation, and regulation of, in this case, marijuana rather than alcohol in hopes of finding the money needed to bail themselves out. It will be a step in the right direction as far as crippling the "War on Drugs" and just at the right/wrong time.
There remains a little known or publicized international factor in research into the true nature of the misuse of, dependency on, and addiction to alcohol and other chemicals and behaviours. As a result ot the rapid increase in IT, the answers to genetic, epigenetic, and neuroscientific treatments and cures are pouring in at an exponentially increasing rate. (The guy on TV that touts a "cure for addiction" is, as I see it, a Con-Man). Much of the misuse of, dependency on, and addiction to alcohol and other chemicals is as a self-medication for undiagnosed mental disorders of largely genetic based and neurobiological imbalances in brain chemistry. The answers to treatement that will represent permanent cures are no more than 10 to 15 years away. During the time up to 2025, new breakthoughs in effective and long-term treatment of our Nation's and the World's alcohol and drug problems will be coming in at an ever increasing pace. This will destroy the "Drug War Triad" but it will put our National Economic Balance in a serious position. It plays a role in our current "National Recession" which is really a true "Economic and Social Depression". I will not go into the details of the role that the "Drug War" is involved here. It is much to detailed, so you will simply have to take my word for it, the problems are well hidden.
Any and all comments should make for a nice long discussion that I will look forward to seeing.
Smokey G.
Smokey G et al.
Smokey G, ever get seriously sick in the U.K.? You get treatment immediately irrespective of your financial worth. Obama tried to imitate that program but it turned into a mockery with all the deals with insurance companies and HMOs he had to make. People against socialized medicine are essentially hill-billies. The ones who used to be proud of the spam they stockpiled in their bomb shelters. They used to lump socialized medicine in with bolshevism. Now they call Obama Hitler and go back to watching Fox News.
In reply to Smokey G et al. by Anonymous343 (not verified)
Hillbillies?
Why is it you people want to counter with Obama's health plan? So you really think you could trust him, any more, to make a decision based on knowledge and education.Who would not expect his decision to be based on biased news reports and "research" that support socialized medicine. Just denying the occurrence, of the problems associated with socialized medicine, does nothing to counter the news reports about the waiting lists and bad outcomes. (young British girl who died from cervical cancer because she was refused a screening pap smear?) We had a teenager die, in my town, because a doctor refused to think her breast mass could be cancer. Even the newly proposed mammogram screening techniques would have missed that patient's cancer. Who does mammograms on teenagers? Well, that's not "standard of care"!? Medicine will never be perfect, but..... Politics and medicine are not good bedfellows.
The good, along with the bad information should be presented in an understandable form, to everyone that votes! Then the "hillbillies" could make better decisions. But, leaving it up to politicians means you will just get biased information that supports their political leanings.
I don't think this forum is fighting politics here. We are fighting against a drug war that has justice handed out at different levels, according to who you are. Why is there a difference between what cops, politicians' kids (D or R), and celebrities, in trouble get, as sentences, compared to the poor, or non-white? The injustice needs to end!
One step...
They always say genius is one step away from insanity, perhaps "criminal justice" is one step away from from "criminal"...
In reply to One step... by Ziggy (not verified)
good one
Good one.
David Borden, Executive Director
StoptheDrugWar.org: the Drug Reform Coordination Network
Washington, DC
http://stopthedrugwar.org
Smokey G.
"Now, here is the real shocker. As I noted, marijuana "will be the Gateway Drug" much to the dismay of many." Smokey you sure have done your homework !! Since you call marijuana "The Gateway Drug". If you had never done marijuana, and you do other drugs. I take it(since you say Gateway Way Drug) you or not really doing drugs? Since Marijuana is "The Gateway Drug" right? Smokey go back and hit the books!! You homework grade is a "F"
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