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I'm sick and tired of begging my fellow citizens to not throw me in jail...

Submitted by Phillip Smith on
...because I might smoke something of which they don't approve. Imprisoning people for drug use or possession is a violation of fundamental human rights, and I don't give a rat's ass what the law says. The US government and the governments of all the states are committing massive human rights violations with their drugs policies, and those Good Germans who allow it to continue are complicit. I try to be understanding of police, prosecutors, and judges. When they throw some guy in jail or prison because he uses the wrong substance, they're only doing their jobs, right? Sorry, I can't cut them any slack anymore. This country has HALF A MILLION people behind bars who didn't do anything to anybody. That's a goddamned crime. And all those criminal justice system professionals, from the cop on the beat to the judge on the bench, are guilty. When do we get our drug war Nuremburg? "Unjust laws exist," 19th century American Transcendentalist proto-hippie Henry David Thoreau once famously noted. "Shall we be content to obey them, or shall we endeavor to amend them and obey them until we succeed, or shall we transgress them at once?" We know by his actions how Thoreau answered that question. He went to jail rather than pay taxes to support the US war against Mexico. I'm with him. I'm Phil Smith, and I wrote this message in solidarity with all the prisoners of the drug war. I'm with you, too, guys. I won't be blogging for a few days. I've got other things to do. I'll be thinking of what on earth we can possibly do to end this situation.

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