SPRING VALLEY’S “A NEW PATH” PLANS RALLY AT STATE CAPITOL OCT. 13

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Mothers seek treatment options to incarceration for drug offenders

September 20, 2010 (Spring Valley) – “Mothers, family members, healthcare professionals and individuals in recovery will gather to bring focus to our country’s failed drug policies and the havoc they have wreaked on our families,” said Gretechen Bergman, co-founder and executive director of A New PATH. The Spring Valley nonprofit  is part of the Moms United to End the War on Drugs campaign. On October 13 at 11 a.m. the group will lead a rally on the west steps of the State Capitol building in Sacramento.

 

 

The rally is part of a statewide campaign that seeks to "stop violence, mass incarceration and overdose deaths" that participants believe are the result of current “punitive and discriminatory drug policies.” The vigil will acknowledge those who have lost their lives or liberty to the “failed War on Drugs.”

 

The group calls for the following steps as alternatives to imprisonment of drug users:

* Long-term mandatory rehabilitation in a structured therapeutic recovery environment for non-violent drug offenders

* If the nature of the crime does not allow for this alternative, sentencing should include immediate placement in a rehabilitation and recovery program within the prison system

* Upon release from prison or recovery homes, substance abuse offenders should be mandated to a transitional program in a sober-living environment to prepare them to re-enter society
 

A New PATH held a rally in San Diego in April and has since held rallies in Los Angeles and Santa Barbara.

 

The Sacramento event is sponsored by A New PATH (Parents for Addiction Treatment & Healing) in partnership with others including Families ACT!, Broken No More, the Drug Policy Alliance, as well as individuals. The group hopes to persuade lawmakers to change policies of arrest and imprisonment to therapeutic strategies and regulation. Such policies could also save the state money on prisons and cut down on repeat offenses, advocates contend.

 

Participants are urged to bring signs and photos of loved ones whose lives have been damaged by the war on drugs. For more information contact anewpath@cox.net or 619-670-1184, or visit www.anewpathsite.org.
 


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Comments

Jerry Brown has sold our safety to the alcohol lobby.

As you all well know, Jerry Brown, democrat candidate for governor of California, has come out against Prop 19. He's also accepted more than $200,000 in campaign contributions from "beverage" companies, according to the California Secretary of State Campaign Finance website http://tinyurl.com/2vddpqg

CALIFORNIA BEER & BEVERAGE DISTRIBUTORS COMMUNITY AFFAIRS $25,900 5/13/10 1487716-16309

ALLIED BEVERAGES, INC. $25,900 5/13/10 1487716-16303

MARKSTEIN BEVERAGE CO. OF SACRAMENTO $25,000 5/18/10 1488493-16496

HORIZON BEVERAGE COMPANY 20000 5/18/10 1488493-16506

BAY AREA BEVERAGE COMPANY $20,000 5/13/10 1487716-16310

CALIFORNIA BEER & BEVERAGE DISTRIBUTORS COMMUNITY AFFAIRS $19,900 5/13/10 1487716-16307

ACE BEVERAGE CO. $17,500 5/17/10 1488493-16448

MARKSTEIN BEVERAGE CO. OF SAN MARCOS $14,900 5/18/10 1488493-16501

MARKSTEIN BEVERAGE CO. OF SAN MARCOS $10,100 5/18/10 1488493-16502

WILLIAM LAZZERINI $10,000 5/13/10 1487716-16306

PACIFIC BEVERAGE $10,000 5/8/10 1486926-16155

MISSION BEVERAGE COMPANY $7,500 5/17/10 1488493-16447

HORIZON BEVERAGE COMPANY $5,000 9/14/10 1518320-33050

Total: $211,700

"A New Path" and Jerry Brown

I too, see no correlation between what "A New Path" is proposing and what candidate for governor Jerry Brown has done or will do, or any lobbyists or campaign contributors. Maybe I am missing something, as I don't have much of an opinion one way or other on Prop 19. I really don't understand what mothers seeking treatment options to incarceration for drug offenders, has to do with Jerry Brown allegedly accepting more than $200,000 from "beverage companies."

Whitman, Brown's opponent, also opposes Prop 19.

Prop 19 deals with marijuana legalization.  What do Brown's beverage donations have to do with that issue?  I don't see the connection.  Most law enforcment officials and groups have opposed the measure, though there are strong arguments on both sides.

It's not that difficult to follow:

Just days ago, the California Beer and Beverage Distributors (CBBD) announced it's opposition to Proposition 19. The CBBD is an industry group that represents the interests of beer distributors and associate members like the ones who have given Jerry Brown over 200 thousand dollars in campaign donations. The breweries appear to be opposed to a law that they believe would legalize a drug that would directly compete with their product.

There is at least one beverage company which has taken a principled stance and wishes to remain explicitly neutral:

"We feel that people have the obligation to choose what is right for themselves without influence from outside interests. We regret any implied association with this action by the CBBD, and maintain our independence and neutrality regarding matters of politics."

http://tinyurl.com/386np2r

The assertion that drug legalization/regulation would bring higher usage rates ignores what has occurred since the early 1970s. The percentage of Americans who have used an illegal drug has gone from less than 5% to about 40%. The cost of one dose of street heroin has gone from $6 to 80 cents while average purity has also increased. The only drug that has decreased in use during this time is tobacco which has plummeted from about 65% during World War II to about 20% today. Tobacco, one of the most addictive substances known to man, has never been illegal, but so many Americans have quit using it for personal reasons that clearly have not been influenced by it's legal availability. They will decide whether or not to use marijuana for the same reasons.

Prohibition continues unabated for shameful political reasons. It cannot, and never will, reduce drug use or addiction.

Like it or not, there has never been, and nor will there ever be, a drug-free society; the use of addictive or recreational drugs is a natural part of human existence. Nobody here is claiming that any substance is beneficial for either the individual or society. It is true however that certain substances help the soul heal and relieve pain while others provide short-term relief from a monotonous existence at the risk of possible long-term health problems.

An important aspect of Individual freedom is the right to do with yourself as you please as long as your actions cause no unnecessary suffering or direct harm to others. Many among us may disagree with this, and they should be free to believe what they wish, but the moment they are willing to use force to impose their will on the rest of us, is the exact same moment that the petty criminals/dealers, the Mafia, drug barons, terrorists and corrupt government officials/agencies enter the equation. The problems created by self harm then rapidly pale into insignificance as society spirals downwards into a dark abyss, while the most shady characters and 'black-market corporate entities' exponentially enrich themselves in a feeding frenzy likened to that of piranhas on bath-tub meth.

Prohibition subsidizes criminals and terrorists.

Advocating a continued increase in mayhem & tyranny solely for the purpose of financial gain, like the prison guard's union, the DEA, or the alcohol industry, is both despicable and unconscionable.
http://www.drugwarrant.com/2010/09/alcohol-lobby-funds-prop-19-opposition/

May I ask you all to please consider the following very carefully: It wasn't alcohol that caused the surge in crime and homicide during alcohol prohibition in the 1920s, it was the prohibition of alcohol. That's why many of us find it hard to believe that the same thing is not happening now. We clearly have a prohibition fueled violent crime problem. A huge number of these violent crimes are perpetrated by criminal syndicates and gangs who use the proceeds form the sales of illegal substances to further even more of their criminal activities.

The second biggest business during prohibition in Detroit was liquor at $215 million a year and employing about 50,000 people. Authorities were not only helpless to stop it, many were part of the problem. During one raid the state police arrested Detroit Mayor John Smith, Michigan Congressman Robert Clancy and Sheriff Edward Stein.

The Mexican cartels are ready to show, that when it comes to business, they also like to be nonpartisan. They will buy-out or threaten politicians of any party, make deals with whoever can benefit them, and kill those who are brave or foolish enough to get in their way.

If you support prohibition you've helped create the prison-for-profit synergy with drug lords.

If you support prohibition you've helped remove many important civil liberties from those citizens you falsely claim to represent.

If you support prohibition you've helped put previously unknown and contaminated drugs on the streets.

If you support prohibition you've helped to escalate Murder, Theft, Muggings and Burglaries.

If you support prohibition you've helped evolve local gangs into transnational enterprises with intricate power structures that reach into every corner of society, controlling vast swaths of territory with significant social and military resources at their disposal.

Prohibition is nothing less than a grotesque dystopian nightmare. We have to regulate and we have to do it now!