June 2008 Archives
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SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — A former health secretary and an ex-university president want to legalize marijuana in Puerto Rico, saying it will reduce a burgeoning prison population and prevent young adults from being exposed to violent criminals.
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — A former health secretary and an ex-university president want to legalize marijuana in Puerto Rico, saying it will reduce a burgeoning prison population and prevent young adults from being exposed to violent criminals.
Under the plan, marijuana would be taxed as liquor and tobacco are now, with proceeds going toward drug-treatment programs, said former Health Secretary Enrique Vazquez Quintana.
The proposal, also supported by other former public officials and a medical doctor, calls for stricter penalties against drug traffickers, and comes as the U.S. Caribbean territory prepares to launch drug-treatment programs to wean addicts from crack, heroin and other substances.
About 24 percent of the island's 13,500 inmates have been convicted on drug charges, and an estimated 80 percent of crimes are drug-related, according to the Department of Corrections.
"The fight against drugs, using punishment, has not worked," said Jose Manuel Saldana, former president of the University of Puerto Rico. "This is a social reality.
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Late at night through my window by the computer I can see my neighbor Stokes bicycling at 10 p.m. to the local convenience store to buy groceries. Not only is that an expensive way to feed one's self, but it is the only way for old Stokes to cop some grubs without getting thrown in jail. Seriously. As a convicted sex offender, he is not allowed to be near young women in a supermarket checkout line. Nor is he allowed to visit a park, or even his own grandchild, even though he is not a child molester by the court's own admission. He is not allowed to drink a beer. In fact, he is not even allowed to read Playboy Magazine.
Late at night through my window by the computer I can see my neighbor Stokes bicycling at 10 p.m. to the local convenience store to buy groceries. Not only is that an expensive way to feed one's self, but it is the only way for old Stokes to cop some grubs without getting thrown in jail. Seriously. As a convicted sex offender, he is not allowed to be near young women in a supermarket checkout line. Nor is he allowed to visit a park, or even his own grandchild, even though he is not a child molester by the court's own admission. He is not allowed to drink a beer. In fact, he is not even allowed to read Playboy Magazine.
A dozen or so years ago Stokes, now 66 with a gray ponytail, an altogether gentle soul who labors under the illusion he looks like Willie Nelson, (and even has a framed photo of Willie on his wall to invite comparison). Got caught by police in a, shall we say, "a vehicular sexual incident" with a married woman. They were both drunk, big deal. That happens in beer joints. To make a long story short, by the time they got to court, the lady's testimony was that it was all against her will, which being a married woman, solved a lot of problems for her. That resulted in Stokes being convicted as a sex offender, while his public defender all but slept through the trial.
To make matters worse, Stokes had an unregistered handgun stashed in his car. Stupid, I know, but rednecks are often like that, and I'd be willing to bet there are more unregistered handguns than registered ones around here. This may horrify urban liberals, but legal or not, it is the common practice of tens of thousands of people down here in the southern climes of our great nation. It's also common practice nationwide to many thousands of cab drivers, night clerks, hotel parking valets, bill collectors, repo men, single women and god only knows how many others. At any rate, thanks to the gun that he never touched, Stokes was prosecuted for armed abduction for sexual purposes and did ten years.
He's been out for years now. But he was released into an entirely different world than he left -- one that seems scripted by Adam Smith and Hanging Judge Roy Bean. As a convicted felon, he has been released from prison to serve a new sentence to serve time as a profit center for our economy. In truth, he has been one from the day he was charged.
