enthalpy

Wednesday, December 09, 2009


Looks like the Harris County D.A. is taking the first, tiny step to come to their senses about their Draconian drug laws, by reducing paraphernalia possession to a misdemeanor.
Starting next year, the Harris County District Attorney's Office no longer will file state jail felony charges against suspects found with only a trace — less than a hundreth of a gram — of illegal drugs, District Attorney Pat Lykos said Tuesday.

Instead, people found with crack pipes with nothing more than residue inside or other drug paraphernalia, would face a ticket for a class C misdemeanor, which carries a maximum fine of $500.
Imagine that. You don't have a usable quantity of drugs and you don't go to jail. Imagine that? But who is this going to piss off? Who has something to lose in this fight?
“It ties the hands of the officers who are making crack pipe cases against burglars and thieves,” said Gary Blankinship, president of the Houston Police Officers' Union. “A crack pipe is not used for anything but smoking crack by a crack head. Crack heads, by and large, are also thieves and burglars. They're out there committing crimes.”
So you smoke crack, you need to go to jail because you might commit a burglary? I thought we were done with the thought police?



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