Tomorrow:
PSU brings on the National Defending Education rally, 10 am - 2 pm in the South Park Blocks. For more information on the national call to action visit, www.defendeducation.org. For local information visit www.defendeducationpdx.wordpress.com
Just a couple of the stories we didn't have time for, but which you might find intriguing...
No question Oregon’s some 40 thousand medical marijuana patients need a safer, more reliable and regulated way to get medical marijuana besides growing it themselves. Measure 74 would legalize the necessary infrastructure for statewide dispensary systems. Proponents say the measure would bring accountability and dignity to the process of receiving and dispensing marijuana. Skeptics, however, say the measure has too many “loopholes”. And leave room for “abuse.” But what really sticks in Puritan craws is the notion that Measure 74 is a masked attempt to legalize marijuana rather than a genuine attempt to solve patient problems. As if these wankers care about patients. As for the alleged "masked attempt"...it's only "masked" if you aren't looking. The whole idea is first to legitamatize it and then to legalize it. And the worst part about America’s drug laws and the rest of the victimless crime apparatus is that Americans will sell freewill and responsibility for a pinch of safety. We are a nation of fearful children.
Prosecuting victimless crime indeed costs money. But it also costs lives. Once a person has a criminal record all hope of a decent job is shattered – living proof that drugs don’t kill you; drug laws do. And so we arrive at the point at which thanks to a sinking economy, budget cuts have stemmed the rising tide of ruined lives. Multnomah County District Attorney Mike Schrunk says he's had no choice but to stop prosecuting dozens of illegal acts as crimes. Among them, most people caught with small amounts of drugs such as heroin, cocaine or meth; first- or second-time shoplifters caught stealing anything worth less than $250; suspects who resist arrest, or who run away from police officers; drivers who hit and run, as long as they have insurance when they are caught. Multnomah County is treating those offenses as violations -- similar to being cited with a speeding ticket. Pay the fine and walk free. There's no threat of jail time and no probation. The new policy -- implemented in waves over the past few months -- has widened the divide between Oregon's largest county and its neighbors, Clackamas and Washington counties, where prosecutors still aggressively pursue many of the crimes that Multnomah County is decriminalizing.- KBOO