Buttigieg Says We Should Decriminalize All the Drugs

[femmedem]

Last edited Mon Dec 30, 2019, 07:20 PM - Edit history (1)

"I would not have said even five years ago what I believe now, which is that incarceration should not even be a response to drug possession.

But what I've seen is—while there continue to be all kinds of harms associated with drug possession and use—it's also the case that we have created, in an effort to deal with what amounts to a public health problem, we have created a bigger problem, a justice problem, and its own form of a health problem, if you think about the impact on a child.

We have kids in South Bend who have grown up with the incarceration of a parent as one of their first experiences. That makes them dramatically more likely to have an encounter with the criminal legal system.

And so I've always been skeptical of mass incarceration but now I believe more than ever we need to take really significant steps, like ending incarceration as a response to simple possession."

More: https://reason.com/2019/12/30/pete-buttigieg-says-we-should-decriminalize-all-the-drugs/

I think a better title for the article would have been "Buttigieg says incarceration shouldn't be a response to drug possession," but this is a good read--and there's also a video of his interview with the Des Moines Register's editorial board.

Edited to add: I didn't realize when I posted it that this is a Libertarian website. Sorry about that! However, it isn't tearing any of our candidates down, gives a lengthy direct quote and link to a video of Buttigieg speaking, so I hope it will stand.

[JonLP24]

1. I actually agree with this

I don't mind that you did but Reason is a libertarian website. As long as they report positively on the Democratic candidate I don't have any issues.

[femmedem]

2. I didn't know! I wasn't familiar with the website. Thanks.

I agree with it as well. I think Buttigieg is much more progressive than people give him credit for, although we have even more progressive candidates running.

[Cuthbert Allgood]

3. Have to agree with him on this one.

And it's not just incarceration, but also not pushing users underground and giving them the help they need.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

4. Well, I just watched the whole interview.

One hour and about 6 minutes.

Many questions were asked, and Pete answered them all. No notes, no written materials of any sort--just his incredible memory coming up with great answers.

He has an encyclopedic memory and if he becomes our President, we will all benefit from that. He is an astonishing thinker: clear, organized and logical.

[crazytown]

5. Pete's variable accent.

Forgive me for mentioning this, but I find it distracting. My journey in this cycle has been Kamala, Pete, then Elizabeth Warren. Early on, I had the pleasure of listening to Pete's The Shortest Way Home. This man has a beautiful mind, and the narration was more than seductive, it was a pleasure. There were moments in the early TV town halls that took my breath away, where he he Ould pull the curtain back on an answer a little, to reveal an extraordinary depth of knowledge and analysis.

I've met two or three people in my life who I could describe as brilliant - people who are so smart, so fast, and so on top of their briefs, that you know they will be able to convince you, will chose their way, rather than your own, to do so. It's like playing tennis with someone who is so fast at the net the ball never bounces on their side of the court.

Chasten said, with Pete, he's the same person at home, as in the public sphere, despite being a very shy man. I found this reassuring. So it was off-putting later in the campaign to hear in speak with different accented vowels, and cadences with different audiences. Obviously he knows observers will pick it up, so I'm not sure what message, if any he is trying to send here.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

7. How interesting! I have not noticed this changing accent that you hear.

I hear you about the rest, though. His depth of knowledge, his seductive narrative--all of this and more are why I support his candidacy. He is such a great candidate.

I'm sorry that you find his way of speaking so distracting. And that you now don't support him. I think the depth of his mind, his knowledge and his caring all make me want to see him as our next President.

It may be unconscious on his part. I don't know, since I don't hear it at all.

[myohmy2]

6. "We Should Decriminalize All the Drugs"

...wow, what a suggestion...

...when's Pete going to suggest confiscating assault-style weapons?

...Beto could help him...

[mike_c]

8. I wholeheartedly agree with this.

[David__77]

9. Not sure if I agree if applied to very large quantities of certain drugs.

I imagine that Buttigieg may take possession of large quantities of drugs to be evidence of intent to sell drugs rather than merely to use them oneself. I would not be surprised if he supported allowing for incarceration in some such cases.

While I understand the case for not incarcerating people for personal use of drugs and associated drug possession, I do think that possession of large quantities of drugs can be indicative of being part of a drug distribution chain.