• This is a political forum that is non-biased/non-partisan and treats every person's position on topics equally. This debate forum is not aligned to any political party. In today's politics, many ideas are split between and even within all the political parties. Often we find ourselves agreeing on one platform but some topics break our mold. We are here to discuss them in a civil political debate. If this is your first visit to our political forums, be sure to check out the RULES. Registering for debate politics is necessary before posting. Register today to participate - it's free!

Obama Plans Broader Use of Clemency to Free Nonviolent Drug Offenders

Cardinal

Respected On All Sides
DP Veteran
Joined
Jun 20, 2008
Messages
106,258
Reaction score
97,645
Gender
Male
Political Leaning
Independent
Hey, good job, Obama. It was obviously commendable of you to release several dozen nonviolent drug offenders.

WASHINGTON — Sometime in the next few weeks, aides expect President Obama to issue orders freeing dozens of federal prisoners locked up on nonviolent drug offenses. With the stroke of his pen, he will probably commute more sentences at one time than any president has in nearly half a century.


The expansive use of his clemency power is part of a broader effort by Mr. Obama to correct what he sees as the excesses of the past, when politicians eager to be tough on crime threw away the key even for minor criminals. With many Republicans and Democrats now agreeing that the nation went too far, Mr. Obama holds the power to unlock that prison door, especially for young African-American and Hispanic men disproportionately affected.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/04/u...y-to-free-nonviolent-drug-offenders.html?_r=0

Now just one suggestion, if I may: Replace the word "dozens" with "all" and you'll be on the right track. Nobody should be in prison for this crap. We're starting down the path to UHC (very slowly, but I feel surely) and we've legalized same sex marriage. It's time to evolve.
 
When liberals say something is evolution are they even looking at history? How can growing dependence on the group be evolution? Wouldn't it make more sense to say that if people become more dependent on each other that they are actually devolving, not evolving?
 
Hey, good job, Obama. It was obviously commendable of you to release several dozen nonviolent drug offenders.



http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/04/u...y-to-free-nonviolent-drug-offenders.html?_r=0

Now just one suggestion, if I may: Replace the word "dozens" with "all" and you'll be on the right track. Nobody should be in prison for this crap. We're starting down the path to UHC (very slowly, but I feel surely) and we've legalized same sex marriage. It's time to evolve.

It is a poor way of going about it. Make legalization an issue. It is no good to leave it illegal but not punish offenders. We need a government that applies law at its own discretion like a hole in the head.
 
All 'recreational' drugs (including heroin) should be legal to use.

It is NONE of the government's business what sane, consenting adults put inside their bodies.

If I want to drink battery acid - that is my business.


Good for you Obama.
 
Last edited:
Hey, good job, Obama. It was obviously commendable of you to release several dozen nonviolent drug offenders.



http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/04/u...y-to-free-nonviolent-drug-offenders.html?_r=0

Now just one suggestion, if I may: Replace the word "dozens" with "all" and you'll be on the right track. Nobody should be in prison for this crap. We're starting down the path to UHC (very slowly, but I feel surely) and we've legalized same sex marriage. It's time to evolve.

well, this is a policy directive i can get behind... it would be much much better if we had legislation, though... hell, it would be much much better if we had a president who acknowledges Congress even exists, let alone tries to do things the proper way.

as an aside, anytime a modern liberal says we need to "evolve"... I get shivers....as modern liberals are generally illiberal on everything but social issues, i don't trust any of you to guide this "evolution"... kindly hold off until i die...kthxbye.
 
While I agree with the release of non-violent drug offenders, I find the OP's use of "evolution" as somewhat dishonest; what he refers to as "evolution", is progress that fits with his paradigm of how the world should be, not necessarily in the biological/natural definition.
 
Obama Plans Broader Use of Clemency to Free Nonviolent Drug Offenders

good. keeping them locked up is a waste of prison resources.
 
good. keeping them locked up is a waste of prison resources.

Then change the law. Populist discretion is not a good development of our present society.
 
Then change the law. Populist discretion is not a good development of our present society.

i'm for changing the law, as well.
 
i'm for changing the law, as well.

Do that first. Law should not be discretionarily dispensed. That is far worse than a bad law.
 
This is a good first step. No one should be rotting in prison for this stuff while we work to decriminalize (in my opinion legalize would be the ultimate goal) drug possession and use.
 
Hey, good job, Obama. It was obviously commendable of you to release several dozen nonviolent drug offenders.



http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/04/u...y-to-free-nonviolent-drug-offenders.html?_r=0

Now just one suggestion, if I may: Replace the word "dozens" with "all" and you'll be on the right track. Nobody should be in prison for this crap. We're starting down the path to UHC (very slowly, but I feel surely) and we've legalized same sex marriage. It's time to evolve.

The federal government has, within the last month, conducted a marijuana raid. Nothing has changed.
 
Do that first. Law should not be discretionarily dispensed. That is far worse than a bad law.

when it comes to the failed drug war, i'll take what i can get. if that stone wall has to be worn down a little at a time, so be it.
 
when it comes to the failed drug war, i'll take what i can get. if that stone wall has to be worn down a little at a time, so be it.

There are always good reasons to justify whatever you might want. But when it means allowing government licence and discretion of action, be extremely careful.
 
This is a good first step. No one should be rotting in prison for this stuff while we work to decriminalize (in my opinion legalize would be the ultimate goal) drug possession and use.

A good first step would be to make the laws such that they do not criminalize the activity. This is a populist easy way out. Not at all good precedent.
 
It occurred to me this morning that it could be argued Obama was testing the water with his small toe: release just a few nonviolent drug offenders and see if the country loses its mind or if the general sentiment is one of approval. It could be the first step in a larger campaign.

Although the discussion hasn't had a chance to get really loud and stupid yet, this opinion post from a year ago on Foxnews could suggest that obama could find more allies than foes in a larger effort to bring the War on Drugs into a national dialogue.

Obama is right to grant drug offenders clemency | Fox News

In my opinion, this Obama clemency initiative is very wise and should be just the beginning of re-examining the horrors visited upon many thousands of defendants and their families when rigid, draconian sentences were handed out to them like candy – often without much, if any, regard for mitigating circumstances like drug dependency or severe psychiatric symptoms.

Let me be clear: For years, our federal courts acted without empathy for drug defendants and ruined their lives, when their lives could have been salvaged. And this was a terrible sin.
If you disagree with that, by the way, ask yourself how many members of Congress would agree to go under oath and testify to never having used marijuana, cocaine or opiate pain relievers without a prescription. I would bet less than half. What’s more, I believe if you were to drug test members of Congress randomly today and insist on resignations from those testing positive, several would be packing their bags by noon.

None of this means drugs are good. They are a plague. Using them is self-destructive, and selling them contributes to the destruction of others. But no attempt to control an evil ought be evil itself. And our federal drug laws were – and, in some measure, still are – exactly that.

President Obama granting clemency to hundreds or thousands of drug offenders convicted of no violent crime will be a beginning toward rebalancing the scales of justice – but just a beginning
 
A good first step would be to make the laws such that they do not criminalize the activity. This is a populist easy way out. Not at all good precedent.

Unless, as I suggested, the test was to test public reaction on smaller scale first.

-----

Lulz at people losing their pants at the mention of "evolve."
 
Back
Top Bottom