CrimLaw

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God Bless our Troops.
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An editorial which disagrees with my position on the drugs and gun law in Virginia.

"The softening of Exile for drug users is not out of line with the generally accepted judicial philosophy that drug pushers are a far greater menace to society than addicts."

"But this line of thinking is the reason the war on drugs is getting nowhere. Until the market for drugs dries up, or at least diminishes significantly, there will always be people willing to make lots of money supplying it. If drug dealers — who often carry guns to enforce their deals and prices — had no market, they would have to find other employment."

"Under current law, there is little to persuade drug users to quit. One of the few laws that makes using drugs a more precarious undertaking is the Exile law that comes down hard on users with guns."

The drug dealers still get five years if they have a firearm with drugs. Most users do not carry firearms so this law is not one which will decrease use in any case. If we want to stop drug use we need to change the cost-benefit analysis. The way to do that would be to make possession of a schedule one or two drug a mandatory 3 year punishment for the first offense and 5 years for any thereafter.

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