The Triumph of Ignorance

Ken Dixon reports in the Connecticut Post that Bill seeks to reduce size of school no-drug zones.

The current school-zone law dates back to the late 1980s, when the surge in crack cocaine resulted in a spike in urban violence and reactions from the General Assembly. Early versions of the legislation created 1,000-foot zones around schools and later laws expanded the area and included public housing, then day care programs.

"A lot of young people were killed in drug shootouts, et cetera," Lawlor said, noting that the sale and possession of drugs in the zone results in mandatory three-year and two-year prison terms, respectively.

Under the legislation, which next moves to the House,
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the hours the school zone would be in effect would include days and nights of organized student and community activities.

"I think we're all well aware that schools are used for a whole host of reasons, all throughout the year, day and night, by adults, children, et cetera," said House Minority Leader Lawrence F. Cafero Jr., R-Norwalk.

Lawlor gave the example of a homeless man smoking marijuana in back of a school at 3 a.m., in the summer, when school's out, as an example of the current law's heavy penalties.

Another example would be someone caught with a small amount of marijuana in their home, a block away from a public housing project.

Sen. Edwin A. Gomes, D-Bridgeport, a committee member, said the current perimeters "just don't work." He said that constituents of his would like added penalties to shield children in parks that are located away from schools.

"Our kids need to be protected as well as the kids in the projects," Gomes said. "These perimeters they're talking about, they just don't work."

No, the perimeters not only don't work but they are detrimental toward preventing the exposure of kids to drugs in general.

I have blogged and commented on this issue repeatedly and i'm glad to see even this glimmer of progress.

These perimeter laws have done nothing but raise the ante for minor offenses to the draconian thresholds of federal offenses reserved for mass murderers. In urban areas, these perimeters bleed into each other creating megalopolis-sized no-drug or whatever "zones". The presumption that urban populations will stop taking drugs, reading porn, or doing whatever is so delusional that the legislators creating and passing such legislation should be strapped into straitjackets and dropped off on a deserted Pacific Island.

You can walk into almost any school in America today and "find" drugs. As a society, we have exercised a radical, demented right-wing agenda for -cough- "solving" the drug problem. The blind, rabid ignorance of drug wars, wholesale intolerance, and blissful, self-righteous ever-so-toughness has resulted in an escalation of ever-more dangerous drug options, extreme escalations of violence, crime, and social dysfunction, and the costly incarceration of pedestrian, self-medicating innocents.

i hold out no great hope that society will get much smarter but Lord knows we could use an epiphany that includes tightly regulated de-criminalization and heavy taxation of marijuana, a serious effort to contain and de-escalate the dependency of hard-core addicts on heavier drugs, and the elimination of severe penalties aimed at those who are most incapable of coping with their life situation.

There is no cure for imperfect humanity but that doesn't mean that humanity's best instincts should be pushed aside to satisfy mankind's meanest.

The Disgraceful Saga of 'Zero Tolerance' Policies

After twenty years or more of the terror of 'zero tolerance' laws and societal policies, some humanity and intelligence is running these ridiculous and disdainful things out of town after town.

The reason is simple, zero tolerance has left a legacy of broken lives, scorched public trust, and destitute justice in its mindless rampage through America. Judges were not trusted to exercise good judgment and enforcement officials were required to press on with even the most bogus of criminal claims.

The American courtroom more resembles a horror show 'red room' than a house of justice.

Read Has 'zero tolerance' in schools gone too far?
Some states' lawmakers move in that direction on violence, drugs policies and thank god the country is waking up.

Lawmakers in several states say the strict policies in schools have resulted in many punishments that lack common sense, and are seeking to loosen the restrictions.

"A machete is not the same as a butter knife. A water gun is not the same as a gun loaded with bullets," said Rhode Island state Sen. Daniel Issa, a former school board member who worries that no-tolerance rules are applied blindly and too rigidly.

Issa sponsored a bill requiring school districts to decide punishments for alcohol, drug and non-firearm weapon violations on a case-by-case basis after weighing the circumstances. It passed the Senate and House and now heads for the governor's desk.

Some have long been aware of the problems of zero tolerance. For the last decade, Mississippi has allowed local school districts to reduce previously mandatory one-year expulsions for violence, weapons and drug offenses.

More recently, Texas lawmakers have also moved to tone down their state's zero-tolerance rules. Utah altered its zero-tolerance policy on drugs so asthmatic students can carry inhalers. The American Bar Association has recommended ending zero-tolerance policies, while the American Psychological Association wants the most draconian codes changed.

"It may be a bit of self-correction that you're beginning to see where the pendulum is coming back," said Kathy Christie, vice president of a research clearinghouse for Education Commission of the States in Denver.