Please forward.

This article is on the web at:
http://www.egroups.com/group/drug_war_news/231.html?

Some west coast drug war news. (California NRA).

March 1999. NRA for drug mandatory minimum sentences and 3 Strikes for drugs.
Drug mandatory minimums include cannabis.

In addition, 3 strikes laws are the harshest drug mandatory minimum sentencing
laws.

Please note the all-new angelfire.com webpage links at the end.

Quote from NRA article below:
"After years of wrestling with drug abuse as a 'social problem', the hard-line
approach to repeat drug offenders seems to be having a clearly positive affect
on crime."

This March 1999 NRA article is at:
http://www.calnra.org/three.htm

--- article begins ---

California NRA Members' Council.

California Senator Tom Hayden attempting to dismantle Three Strikes Law.

The same senator that wants to restrict your right to own firearms, wants to
turn prisoners loose on our streets.

02 March 1999.

by Ralph Weller.

California State Senator Tom Hayden, former president of the communist
organization Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) at U.C. Berkeley, has made
it clear that he hates the three strikes law that voters put into place by a 72%
margin five years ago. Since then, he has tried in vain to dismantle it.

Every year since three strikes went into effect, Hayden has introduced various
pieces of legislation in an attempt to nibble away at the law without success.
Now that California has a liberal governor and legislature he may reach his
target of tearing it apart.

Hayden said this week he his concerned that three strikes legislation is doing
nothing but putting people in prison for 25 years to life on drug and petty
offenses such as "stealing a pizza". Hayden thinks that the drug problem and
crime are not linked and has introduced legislation to dismantle the voter
mandated law.

Since implementation of the three strikes five years ago, California's homicide
rate has dropped by over 50% as reported recently by California's Department of
Justice. Can three strikes be credited with all of the reduction in murders?
Maybe not all of it. But if you recall, violent crime dropped dramatically the
first year after the law went into effect. Very early on in the life of the law
we heard whining from the left as to how outlandish the law was and that
California voters didn't know what they were voting for. We were deluged with
stories in the liberal press about how seemingly small petty criminal acts were
garnering 25 years to life in prison. We were told that there weren't enough
prisons to hold all the three strike offenders and not enough money to build
prisons to house them. The liberals projected outrageous prisoner incarceration
rates that were unaffordable. The real story since then has been that violent
crime has continued to drop each and every y!
ear at extraordinary rates. It appears the fear of spending a significant
portion of one's life in prison for repeat offenses is too much for most. And,
those who continue, end up in prison and off our streets where they can't
victimize law-abiding citizens. The ridiculous predictions of prison build
rates has been significantly turned down simply because the relative minority of
our population that commit 80% of all crimes are behind bars and not being
arrested over and over again.. Prior to three strikes, California's justice
system was the laughing stock of the nation, notorious for the revolving door
policy implemented in the seventies in attempt to rehabilitate offenders. It
was, without a doubt, a dismal failure.

Whether Tom Hayden wants to admit it or not, drug abuse has been the core root
cause of most crime in this country for the last three decades. Drug addiction
leads to dysfunctional members of society who are unable to retain a job, or one
that supports a very expensive habit, and as such, the user eventually turns to
crime to finance their addiction. More importantly, three strikes is not just
about small time drug users spending time in prison. It's about keeping drug
king pins and members of their distribution network, drug peddlers, off the
streets who entice our children into a horrible life of severe addiction.

Hayden feels that three strikes is too harsh for drug abuse. Most Libertarians
will agree. However, the facts are that drugs are illegal and, as a result,
expensive. The average worker is unable to afford the habit on an average wage
and eventually, despite countless interventions through drug rehabilitation,
eventually turns to crime to support their habit. It is the root of most evil
in this country and the bottom line is, either legalize drugs and reduce the
price or continue with three strikes to keep users off the street. The former
is the least desirable of options.

Regardless of what your feelings are about the drug problem in this country, the
facts are indisputable. Crime sky rocketed in American cities in the late
sixties in direct relationship to the mass introduction of illegal drugs to our
youth. After years of wrestling with drug abuse as a "social problem", the
hard-line approach to repeat drug offenders seems to be having a clearly
positive affect on crime.

We have no choice in this matter. It is imperative that we keep our streets
safe, our children safe, and teach our children a lesson that drug abuse leads
to a life of addiction, crime, prison or regrettably, a horrible death in the
gutters of American cities.

Please call your state Senator and Assembly person and ask that they reject
Senator Tom Hayden's attempt to dismantle three strikes legislation. Remember,
Tom Hayden is one of the leaders of anti-gun legislation in Sacramento. On one
hand, he'll gladly ask that you forfeit your right to own a firearm, on the
other he'll gladly turn criminals loose on you and your family. The liberals
are a strange bunch, but one thing is for certain. Their plan is to keep you
afraid and subsequently dependent on government... big government. Criminals in
prison and a gun in your home are not the ingredients of success that liberals
require to retain power.

---- end of NRA article ----

Some info on the author of the article:
"Ralph Weller is an NRA, CRPA Member, an officer in a San Diego NRA Member's
Council and a gun rights activist in Southern California. He is also the web
master of www.calnra.org and manages other pro-gun organization websites."
The author info is from the bottom of a January 1, 2000 yearly wrapup article by
him at:
01-01-00: The year in review. What happened, what's going to happen and how to
stop it. - Ralph Weller.
http://www.calnra.org/whatayear.htm

=======================================

WORLD DRUG WAR CHARTS. JUST THE CHARTS. Very few notes.
http://www.angelfire.com/rnb/y/charts2.htm

*WORLD DRUG WAR TABLES AND CHARTS. Revised. WITH MANY NOTES.
http://www.angelfire.com/rnb/y/charts.htm

*U.S. Rightist Republican Drug War. Huge LINKS list! Revised edition. GOP Holy
War.
http://www.angelfire.com/rnb/y/gop.htm

Drug War, Death Squad LINKS worldwide. Revised. Huge LINKS list. Please forward.
So far, various versions of the webpage are found in a few places. Click latest
revised webpage:
http://www.angelfire.com/rnb/y/squads.htm

*DRUG WAR NEWS. Quick-loading access:
http://www.egroups.com/group/drug_war_news/info.html
Full info, description, links (slower to load):
http://www.egroups.com/group/drug_war_news/fullinfo.html




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