cannabisnews.com: Perhaps Daughters Arrest Will Trigger New Thinking





Perhaps Daughters Arrest Will Trigger New Thinking
Posted by FoM on January 31, 2002 at 08:06:32 PT
Opinion
Source: Florida Times-Union 
The story of Noelle Bush, the governor's daughter, is sad. It's one that evokes sympathy and compassion and pulls at the heartstrings of parents everywhere.Understandably, Jeb Bush asks that the family be left alone to deal in privacy with the reverberations of Noelle's drug arrest. It's a request that should be honored. However, even though privacy is proper, the arrest raises questions about public policy that must be addressed.
Newspapers across the state, in reporting on the arrest Tuesday in Tallahassee, hinted delicately that this wasn't Noelle Bush's first problem with drugs.Quoting sources close to the Bush family, they reported there had been other instances of drug abuse.The Miami Herald quoted sources as saying Noelle Bush had been in and out of rehabilitation programs for years and that she had entered an Atlanta rehab clinic at least once since her father became governor.Bush himself acknowledged during his 1998 campaign that one of his children had had problems with drugs, although he wouldn't say which one.Bush, as any caring parent would do, has tried to help his daughter.And that's the usual course for substance abusers who are themselves people of means or who are the children of people of means: second and third chances and private rehab programs.For people without connections or with little money, however, the course is often different. Look at our prisons. They are full of people serving time on drug charges.But even Florida, not exactly progressive in its approach to criminal justice, has recognized that slamming the jail door shut on drug offenders might not be the best approach.In recent years, special drug courts have been set up where drug offenders are given a closely monitored second chance to straighten up their acts.And programs have been established in the state's prisons to treat drug abusers who have been incarcerated to prepare them for a life on the outside.This is the wise approach in both human and fiscal terms. A life turned around is a positive addition to society. And, to put it coldly, it's cheaper to rehab drug abusers than to keep them locked up in prison.Yet, the governor is proposing budget cuts that will hurt these very programs.Maybe now, given the events of the week, he will rethink his position.Noelle Bush will get another chance. Hopefully, she will take advantage of it.Others ought to be afforded the same opportunity, even those without means and connections.The first is a private family matter, and that is to be respected.But the latter is a public policy question that should be vigorously debated, especially now that a spotlight is shining brightly on it because of the sadness of a young woman's plight.She's the daughter of a governor, but there are many who aren't.Source: Florida Times-Union (FL)Published: Thursday, January 31, 2002 Copyright: 2002 The Florida Times-UnionContact: jaxstaff jacksonville.comWebsite: http://www.times-union.com/Related Articles:Governors Daughter Charged with Prescription Fraudhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread11872.shtmlGovernors Daughter Charged with Prescription Fraudhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread11871.shtml
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Comment #10 posted by Sam Adams on January 31, 2002 at 14:42:13 PT
Jesus never smoked schwag!
Only the finest Lebanese high-grade, no doubt.Seriously, can you imagine what would happen today if Jesus showed up with his long hair & beard, merry band of disciples and big ol' vase of anointing oil?  Mullah Ashcroft would lock his ass up, pronto. 
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Comment #9 posted by The GCW on January 31, 2002 at 12:18:49 PT
BIBLICAL DECEIPT
is when people try to use the Bible to prohibit cannabis. 
Thank God for cannabis. Accept cannabis ( also known as kaneh bosm, before
the King James Version), for what it is as described on the very first page
(like deja vu) of the Bible (Gen. 1:11-12 and 29-30).  Mans cannabis policies, discounting Christ God on the very 1st page, creates a psychosis from The Holy Spirit of Truth, (as described in John 14-16)Isn’t a human that cages his brother or neighbor for using cannabis, a traitor to Christ God, who gave us cannabis and put cannabinoid (THC) receptor sites in our brains?Examine the policy on cannabis, and we see there are 2. One is Christ God’s on the very 1st page of the Bible, saying it’s a blessing, then, there is mans policy to cage humans that use cannabis. Sinning prohibitionist often under the guise of fundamentalist, are scattering the flock, deceiving Christians, into believing it is ok to cage humans for accepting cannabis. DO NOT LET THE SCHWAG LEAD YOU ASTRAY. THAT HOLY SPIRIT OF TRUTH IS FOR REAL! Christ God stands for the truth, and he stands for us.
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Comment #8 posted by idbsne1 on January 31, 2002 at 11:24:08 PT
sorry markjc....
No offense dude, but that remark wasn't thought out.So, ANYTHING I don't believe in is NOT evidence. Boy, you should work for the Government....idbsne1
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Comment #7 posted by Jose Melendez on January 31, 2002 at 11:11:30 PT:
don't be sorry markjc
It is not necessary to believe in the bible to use it as evidence. Men wrote rules that they themselves were not subject to, lied to enact them and others must continue to lie to enforce them. The fact that there is written evidence of this, even in the earliest written texts known to humanity, does not require me or anyone else to believe they are somehow holy. Those historical references and documents embolden me to speak out against this pattern of deceipt. This is because I have a common frame of reference from which I may construct a compelling case. If you want to win at scrabble, make sure you are familiar with the dictionary...
Peace...
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Comment #6 posted by Lehder on January 31, 2002 at 10:09:57 PT
their drug war and yours
In recent years, special drug courts have been set up where drug offenders are given a closely monitored second chance to straighten up their acts.Noelle Bush has already had a second chance, and probably more. She's already been in rehabilitation, she has received a dozen traffic violations and been involved in three crashes, probably all 'drug and alcohol related'. Rehabilitation has failed, and by the usual legal policy the next step is prison. Thousands of 24 year old girls are in prison for lesser drug offenses. It's a pleasant daydream to imagine that the Bushes, Jeb and George, would reevaluate their drug war policies when applied to their own family. But those policies made for the unexalted among us never applied to George in his cocaine and booze abusing days and they will not be applied in their rigor to Noelle or any others of the politically privileged.The usual 'drugs of abuse' should from every perspective of social good and national interest be legal, and those foolish enough to develop problems with harmful drugs should have medical assistance at their disposals without fear of legal persecution. Only this policy can reduce the harm of heavy drugs and the crimes associated with prohibition. Had the beneficial herb marijuana been legal in the first place, Noelle may well have been satisfied with that and never developed her present problems with addictive Xanax.But there's no rospect of any such recognition of the drug war's foolishness and inequity by the Bushes. Because for the the unequal among us it's not a war, it's a business. Ordinary people are its victims while the Bushes and their corporate boosters sum the profits of lives destroyed in the accounting columns of prisons built, property seized, campaign contributions of pharmaceutical companies, and opposing voters disenfranchised. The Bushes are beyond the reach of the harshness of law they impose on others, and while there may be from time to time a minor glitch in this nearly perfect system, it can always be favorably resolved the same as it was for George. All's well with their world. 
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Comment #5 posted by markjc on January 31, 2002 at 09:09:25 PT:
thats not evidence
the bible is only evidence if you believe in it. sorry.
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Comment #4 posted by Dark Star on January 31, 2002 at 08:31:34 PT
Hypocrisy Test for Term Limits
I liked this editorial very much for its quiet sensibility. There is not equal justice under the law in this country as our system claims. In the words of John Fogerty and CCR, "I ain't no senator's son!" When you're not, you suffer for it.I have one key test for incumbents: Are they guilty of hypocrisy in their application of the law? If so, they should be voted out of office. Most will fail the test. May we blessed with a few honest and sincere legislators.
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Comment #3 posted by goneposthole on January 31, 2002 at 08:24:31 PT
Jeb Bush's daughter
"Doesn't she realize that abusing drugs is verboten throughout the land?Shame on her, I hope they throw the book at her. She will get what she deserves.She has it coming to her. Show no mercy. Burn her at the stake for being a suspected witch!It is too bad the police just didn't gun her down at the drug store"Written with 'true' Texas sentiment.Sorry to be so tough on her, but George Bush, Jr. has been pretty tough on death row inmates in Texas.I think they would wretch on the taste of their own medicine, Those Bush's.I would hope that they would rethink their position on current drug policies.I won't hold my breath or stand on one leg, though. 
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Comment #2 posted by Jose Melendez on January 31, 2002 at 08:20:15 PT:
The Tree of Life
More on the treee of life:Across North America, users of sacramental cannabis are standing up in court for their belief in the holy herb, and it's only a matter of time before courts will have no choice but to recognize that – for some – cannabis is the Tree of Life. Court prosecutors know it, and have been stalling some religious pot cases for over a decade....
From: http://www.cannabisculture.com/articles/2269.html
For some, cannabis is the Tree of Life
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Comment #1 posted by Jose Melendez on January 31, 2002 at 08:17:12 PT:
well stated
Nice to see that someone in the press is pointing out to the world the truth about drug prohibition: that those laws simply do not apply to the class of those that enact such legislation.
There is even evidence that prohibition is based on lies in most versions of the bible:
Genesis 3
22 And the Lord God said, "The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever." 23 So the Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. 
So, God insisted Man should not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, saying that he would surely die. Wasn't there a Partnership for a Drug Free America Ad that claimed pot would make your EEG similar to that of someone in a coma? 
That was not true was it? And because God did not want Man to live forever, Man is banished from Eden. What a crock. Who is "us", anyway? Sorry, God, but it sounds to me like this whole thing has been a lie...
Arrest Prohibition - Drug War is FRAUD
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