Dear Mr. President,
On my way to work this morning I read a New York Times report on an increase in serious mental illnesses on college campuses and corresponding budget cuts which limit the amount of help students can receive. While my own college experience certainly corroborates this, at least anecdotally, my thoughts went first to a mentally ill man we'd recently caught shoplifting at work. When my coworkers and I stopped him he seemed docile enough (if completely delusional) but once in custody he apparently became quite agitated and made threats against the lives of the arresting officers. A man with a similar illness recently committed a murder in my neighborhood, and so the idea of this shoplifter being released worries me for the safety of those who might cross his path once he's released.
There is an old police superstition about the increase in crime and craziness around the full moon. I've heard it from my parents, from other cops, and from the family of law enforcement. I don't know if I believe this. There is a certain amount of mystery to law enforcement I suppose; there have been times when just looking at a person has told me that they're going to steal. I know my coworkers have experienced this, too. I like to think our brains are perceiving something-the aggressive gait, or the furtive looks- that our conscious minds can't identify. But, absent proof of this, I have to at least consider the possibility that maybe there is some small supernatural aspect to understanding when people are ill-intentioned or dangerous. Maybe the full moon means something. (If so, tonight's lunar eclipse is going to make the whole city nuts.)
I don't think that crazy people can be dismissed as solely a celestial phenomena. Our city (and our state, and our country) need to do more to treat the mentally ill-both to ensure public safety and to help individuals function in society. That this area seems to be the quickest to be cut during budget battles is unsettling. Reading this article about the struggle to keep students in crisis alive, I couldn't help but wonder what could possibly be more important than treating those who pose a risk to themselves or others. As I talk to my peers and appreciate how many of us are frustrated at living life constantly struggling just to get by, I can't help but sympathize with those seriously ill I encounter who aren't even doing that well. Because if it's the economy or stress or the full moon, if it's college kids or homeless schizophrenic shoplifters, we all have an interest in understanding, treating and minimizing the harm of mental illness.
Respectfully yours,
Kelsey
Showing posts with label drugs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label drugs. Show all posts
Monday, December 20, 2010
Friday, December 3, 2010
Day 337- A different path
Dear Mr. President,
Today I caught a girl my own age shoplifting. She told us she's been using heroin since the age of 17. She has two children, who she no longer has custody of, and was visibly suffering the effects of her addiction. While I have no regrets about catching her and sending her to jail, I was a little shocked by how much sympathy I felt for her situation. I couldn't help but wonder how easily I might have found myself down a similar path. I can't imagine the life decisions that lead to an existence like hers, but, even after I clocked out for the night, her story lingered in my mind.
It reminds me that criminals, the anonymous numbers filling prisons around the country, are all stories and decisions and pieces of families. That they are not anonymous. When a friend pointed out to me that you finally got around to issuing pardons for non-turkeys, I was hopeful that you'd had a similar reminder, that your compassion for those who have wandered too far down the wrong path was guiding you to act.
Sadly, your 9 pardons all went to offenders who were not currently serving prison time (and a few who never received prison time at all.) Instead of using your Presidential powers to commute sentences and give worthy applicants a second chance at life, you seem to be on track to match Presiden't Bush's abysmally thin pardon record.
Mr. President, you have a difficult job. Getting legislation passed, appointees confirmed, or policies changed requires the cooperation of the near-useless houses of congress. You don't get to wave your hand and change the world, or even the country. But the pardon is one power that is left almost entirely to your own discretion. You could make a difference, change the lives of so many who have been unjustly punished. This is something you don't need the Republicans to agree to, something you don't have to negotiate through endless bureaucratic nonsense. You have the power to look past the numbers and the sentencing minimums and recognize the human stories behind the charges. I was reminded today how random and cruel life can be, how any of us could find ourselves years down the wrong path with no viable way out. If I had your power, I'd want to do whatever I could to help give people a second chance.
I hope that, going forward, you make better use of that power.
Respectfully yours,
Kelsey
Today I caught a girl my own age shoplifting. She told us she's been using heroin since the age of 17. She has two children, who she no longer has custody of, and was visibly suffering the effects of her addiction. While I have no regrets about catching her and sending her to jail, I was a little shocked by how much sympathy I felt for her situation. I couldn't help but wonder how easily I might have found myself down a similar path. I can't imagine the life decisions that lead to an existence like hers, but, even after I clocked out for the night, her story lingered in my mind.
It reminds me that criminals, the anonymous numbers filling prisons around the country, are all stories and decisions and pieces of families. That they are not anonymous. When a friend pointed out to me that you finally got around to issuing pardons for non-turkeys, I was hopeful that you'd had a similar reminder, that your compassion for those who have wandered too far down the wrong path was guiding you to act.
Sadly, your 9 pardons all went to offenders who were not currently serving prison time (and a few who never received prison time at all.) Instead of using your Presidential powers to commute sentences and give worthy applicants a second chance at life, you seem to be on track to match Presiden't Bush's abysmally thin pardon record.
Mr. President, you have a difficult job. Getting legislation passed, appointees confirmed, or policies changed requires the cooperation of the near-useless houses of congress. You don't get to wave your hand and change the world, or even the country. But the pardon is one power that is left almost entirely to your own discretion. You could make a difference, change the lives of so many who have been unjustly punished. This is something you don't need the Republicans to agree to, something you don't have to negotiate through endless bureaucratic nonsense. You have the power to look past the numbers and the sentencing minimums and recognize the human stories behind the charges. I was reminded today how random and cruel life can be, how any of us could find ourselves years down the wrong path with no viable way out. If I had your power, I'd want to do whatever I could to help give people a second chance.
I hope that, going forward, you make better use of that power.
Respectfully yours,
Kelsey
Monday, March 15, 2010
Day 74
UPDATE: Carly Fiorina of the Demon Sheep fame is at it again, with a new ad featuring Senator Barbara Boxer's head as a giant, California-attacking blimp.
Dear Mr. President,
The news of the murders in Juarez were deeply upsetting. Fighting the corruption and violence of Drug trafficking is an important part of treating America's drug problem. I see firsthand the effects of addiction on the urban poor, the homeless and often mentally ill population that migrate through all parts of the city, from my neighborhood to my downtown bookstore. Drug addictions lead to theft, assault and other crimes. But I have friends who routinely use drugs, as well, some in responsible, non-harmful ways. Certainly it is hard to get past the moral implications of the system they support when they buy drugs- they may pay a dealer, but, somewhere, a drug lord is the one making the profit.
My own life has been affected by drugs in many ways. In Boise, I saw the dangerous affects of methamphetamine on a co-worker and neighbor who started a fire in our building one night. While sober, he was a soft-spoken man, grateful for the second chance offered to him by his job and new apartment. When he was using, however, he became violent and paranoid, so convinced that I had slighted him that he came after me with a gun. I was saved by the protection of my boss and the intervention of our neighbors, but it was the first time I understood the dangers of addiction. My young nephew's father also struggles with addiction, stealing from his employers and choosing heroin over his own children. We haven't seen or heard from him in over a year, and, because of his choices, his son will grow up knowing another father entirely. The number of shoplifters I have caught, in Seattle and in DC, who stole books and movies to sell for drug money demonstrate the desperation addiction causes and the violence this can result in.
So how can I reconcile the "recreational" use of drugs by my friends with the dangers and downsides? I think the easiest way to take power away from the drug cartels is to reform the way Americans consume drugs. I think marijuana needs to be legalized, so that it can be domestically produced, taxed, and regulated. The effects of marijuana are less harmful than tobacco an alcohol abuse, and the greatest harm is caused by its illegality, not its use. I think the argument that it can be a gateway drug actually supports legalization- a marijuana user today has already decided to do so in the face of the law, and so trying other illegal drugs does not require much additional risk. If marijuana were legal, I'd imagine that users would be less likely to take the risk of moving on to illegal drugs. A user today already has a dealer, a connection even by proxy to the world of illegal drugs. Allowing them to go through legal sources would cut down on the prevalence of illegal dealers, limiting sources for other drugs. I don't know any one who chooses not to use pot because it is illegal. Many people, (like myself) choose not to use it for reasons unrelated to the law. Personally I find it pretty disgusting, and that isn't going to change if it becomes legal.
We can't win the "war on drugs" while we fund both sides, just as we can't win the war on terror by perpetuating the oppressive practices that fuel recruiting efforts and anti-American sentiments. We may be better-armed, better-trained and better-funded, but so long as we have to win and the other side just has to stay alive, we'll never be able to stop fighting. (An aside, and perhaps worth an entirely separate letter, but if we can try Jesus Vicente Zambada-Niebla in Federal court, why can't we try terror suspects? Zambada-Niebla is surely as much an enemy combatant as Khalid Sheikh Mohammad, and no one is claiming he should be denied due process.) We must accept that we cannot win within the current paradigm, and changing the system is the only way to make real progress at addressing the terrible effects of the drug trade on our country and the world.
Respectfully yours,
Kelsey
Dear Mr. President,
The news of the murders in Juarez were deeply upsetting. Fighting the corruption and violence of Drug trafficking is an important part of treating America's drug problem. I see firsthand the effects of addiction on the urban poor, the homeless and often mentally ill population that migrate through all parts of the city, from my neighborhood to my downtown bookstore. Drug addictions lead to theft, assault and other crimes. But I have friends who routinely use drugs, as well, some in responsible, non-harmful ways. Certainly it is hard to get past the moral implications of the system they support when they buy drugs- they may pay a dealer, but, somewhere, a drug lord is the one making the profit.
My own life has been affected by drugs in many ways. In Boise, I saw the dangerous affects of methamphetamine on a co-worker and neighbor who started a fire in our building one night. While sober, he was a soft-spoken man, grateful for the second chance offered to him by his job and new apartment. When he was using, however, he became violent and paranoid, so convinced that I had slighted him that he came after me with a gun. I was saved by the protection of my boss and the intervention of our neighbors, but it was the first time I understood the dangers of addiction. My young nephew's father also struggles with addiction, stealing from his employers and choosing heroin over his own children. We haven't seen or heard from him in over a year, and, because of his choices, his son will grow up knowing another father entirely. The number of shoplifters I have caught, in Seattle and in DC, who stole books and movies to sell for drug money demonstrate the desperation addiction causes and the violence this can result in.
So how can I reconcile the "recreational" use of drugs by my friends with the dangers and downsides? I think the easiest way to take power away from the drug cartels is to reform the way Americans consume drugs. I think marijuana needs to be legalized, so that it can be domestically produced, taxed, and regulated. The effects of marijuana are less harmful than tobacco an alcohol abuse, and the greatest harm is caused by its illegality, not its use. I think the argument that it can be a gateway drug actually supports legalization- a marijuana user today has already decided to do so in the face of the law, and so trying other illegal drugs does not require much additional risk. If marijuana were legal, I'd imagine that users would be less likely to take the risk of moving on to illegal drugs. A user today already has a dealer, a connection even by proxy to the world of illegal drugs. Allowing them to go through legal sources would cut down on the prevalence of illegal dealers, limiting sources for other drugs. I don't know any one who chooses not to use pot because it is illegal. Many people, (like myself) choose not to use it for reasons unrelated to the law. Personally I find it pretty disgusting, and that isn't going to change if it becomes legal.
We can't win the "war on drugs" while we fund both sides, just as we can't win the war on terror by perpetuating the oppressive practices that fuel recruiting efforts and anti-American sentiments. We may be better-armed, better-trained and better-funded, but so long as we have to win and the other side just has to stay alive, we'll never be able to stop fighting. (An aside, and perhaps worth an entirely separate letter, but if we can try Jesus Vicente Zambada-Niebla in Federal court, why can't we try terror suspects? Zambada-Niebla is surely as much an enemy combatant as Khalid Sheikh Mohammad, and no one is claiming he should be denied due process.) We must accept that we cannot win within the current paradigm, and changing the system is the only way to make real progress at addressing the terrible effects of the drug trade on our country and the world.
Respectfully yours,
Kelsey
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