Gov. Jeb Bush has moral obligation to pardon every drug offender, LP says

[Liberal]

A Libertarian Party press release:

September 10, 2002

WASHINGTON, DC – Florida Gov. Jeb Bush has a moral obligation to pardon every nonviolent drug offender, Libertarians say, after insisting on Tuesday that his daughter’s latest drug episode should be treated as a “family matter” rather than as a criminal matter.

“Why is Noelle Bush sitting in a rehab center while other drug-law violators are rotting in prison?” asked Ron Crickenberger, Libertarian Party political director. “The answer is obvious: Because her father happens to be a hypocritical governor who believes in one standard of justice for his family and another standard for yours.”

Police were called to the Center for Drug Free Living on Monday after employees reported finding a “white, rocklike substance” believed to be crack cocaine in Noelle Bush’s shoe. The 25-year-old daughter of the Republican governor wasn’t immediately arrested, police say, because clinic supervisors refused to cooperate with police and wanted the matter handled “in house.”

Gov. Bush, whose daughter has had previous drug violations, told the Associated Press: “This is a private issue as it relates to my daughter and myself and my wife. The road to recovery is a rocky one for a lot of people that have this kind of problem.”

But the question Libertarians are asking is: Why shouldn’t every American get the Noelle Bush treatment?

“Gov. Bush is exactly right that drug abuse should be treated as a private, medical problem rather than as a criminal problem,” Crickenberger said. “Unfortunately, Bush is an ardent drug warrior who believes in throwing ordinary individuals in jail for committing the same ‘crime’ as his daughter – which makes him a despicable Drug War hypocrite as well.

“Why does Bush believe that other young men and women should be locked inside steel cages for years for doing exactly what his daughter has done?

“Why should other Americans have their lives ruined and their careers destroyed by a drug conviction while he hands his daughter a get-out-of-jail-free card?

“And why must other families be torn apart when a loved one is dragged off to prison while he visits his daughter in a cozy rehab center?

“The fact is that individuals with drug problems harm only themselves, and perhaps their families. But a politician with a hypocrisy problem has the power to tear everyone’s family apart.”

But there’s a way that the governor can redeem himself, Libertarians say:

“Gov. Bush should grant every nonviolent drug offender in the Florida state prison system a full and immediate pardon,” Crickenberger said. “Then let them join his daughter on the road to recovery.”

[Avalonian]

*Originally posted by Libertarian *
**“Gov. Bush should grant every nonviolent drug offender in the Florida state prison system a full and immediate pardon,” Crickenberger said. “Then let them join his daughter on the road to recovery.” **

I dig. I don’t even do drugs, and I’m all for that.

Sure would be nice if our elected officials would walk the walk as well as they talk the talk once in a while. Bush expects privilege while granting none to anyone else.

[Liberal]

I think the implication that Noelle Bush is uniquely sitting in a rehab center might be a stretch. It’s likely that there are many others who have enough political clout to have their children and themselves treated special.

I do, however, agree with the gist of the article that the double standard in place is absurd. The prison system is overflowing with poor blacks who do not have her father’s clout.

[Ferrous]

I don’t usually do this, especially in this forum, but…

Hear, hear!

I agree with every word.

[In_Conceivable]

WASHINGTON, DC – Florida Gov. Jeb Bush has a moral obligation to pardon every nonviolent drug offender, Libertarians say, after insisting on Tuesday that his daughter’s latest drug episode should be treated as a “family matter” rather than as a criminal matter.

Gov. Bush, whose daughter has had previous drug violations, told the Associated Press: **“This is a private issue as it relates to my daughter and myself and my wife. **The road to recovery is a rocky one for a lot of people that have this kind of problem.”

(bolding mine)
Maybe I am not reading this right, but where does Bush say that it isn’t a criminal issue? He says that it is a private issue in his family. I take that to mean that he doesn’t want to discuss the details with the media which is his right to do.

[wring]

another point to consider, Lib, from what I know about rehabs etc (do not know this particular one etc.), they may indeed have a stance that certain types of violations be treated as a ‘rehabilitation slip’ vs. a criminal action. (again, I do **not ** make the assertion that this is the case, just that it is possible).

in order to sustain the claim that she’s being given preferential treatment, we’d have to know for certain that other patients at that rehab, on a first time basis would be handed over for criminal prosecution.

[Avalonian]

*Originally posted by In Conceivable *
**Maybe I am not reading this right, but where does Bush say that it isn’t a criminal issue? He says that it is a private issue in his family. I take that to mean that he doesn’t want to discuss the details with the media which is his right to do. **

If you’re right, then why isn’t she in jail as we speak? Obviously, Jeb wants to avoid criminal prosecution of his daughter. She’s just a victim, after all. :rolleyes:

[Liberal]

I think that at least part of the point, Wring, is why is she (or anyone else) in rehab at all while so many who are less influential languish behind steel bars.

[december]

Let’s see. Jeb should pardon all the drug offenders. Then they can go out and sell more drugs. Then more young people can get their lives f**ked up, just as Noelle Bush did. Hmmm…

[Apos]

—we’d have to know for certain that other patients at that rehab, on a first time basis would be handed over for criminal prosecution.—

Even if none of them are, it’s still a double standard. If I relapse into cocaine use in my tenament and get caught, I go to jail. If I relapse in my posh recovery center, I get patted on the back with a “there, there”

[Apos]

I thought of a very un-PC answer that the gov could use, but would at least be more honest.

Simply put, poor people go to jail because they don’t have the social supports that rich people to do deal with drug habits. Families like the Bush’s have the time and massive resources to care for their daughter, or at least keep her from falling too heavily into a life of crime. That’s why excuses can be made for her behavior, and not for the behavior of poorer people: because she has way more people and dollars on her side to make and sustain those exuses, to take care of her while she’s all strung out.

Now, how do you like that? Is that a good rationale for different punishments?

[Soup_du_jour]

december, I don’t think that Libertarian was complaining specifically about the number of druggies in prison. Rather, I took the OP to ask why Noelle is in rehab while, presumably, others that commited the same offense are incarcerated.

Anyhoop, I think that it represents an obvious double standard. Mr Bush should treat all drug offenders the same.

What would be really* funny (in a sad way) is if one of President Bush’s daughters gets picked up for underage drinking for the third time. The Texas “three strikes” law would be in effect. Interesting…

[Liberal]

Let’s see. Jeb should pardon all the drug offenders. Then they can go out and sell more drugs. Then more young people can get their lives f**ked up, just as Noelle Bush did. Hmmm…

Um…

But the question Libertarians are asking is: Why shouldn’t every American get the Noelle Bush treatment?

[wring]

I recall when this case first came around and it seemed that it was/is standard in FL that ‘first time drug offenders’ were offered rehab.

I seriously doubt that FLorida has a stock pile of first time minor drug offenders in prison (she was caught w/a fraudulent script, which keeps it at the ‘personal use’ stage, vs. dealing).

[wring]

here’s the original article

[In_Conceivable]

*Originally posted by Avalonian *
**

If you’re right, then why isn’t she in jail as we speak? Obviously, Jeb wants to avoid criminal prosecution of his daughter. She’s just a victim, after all. :rolleyes: **

First, I am not defending her. She did a wrong thing. Nor am I saying that drug users should or should not be put in jail. I was merely saying that the article seems to attribute an attitude to Bush that his quoted statements didn’t back up.

Second, AFAIK she was criminally prosecuted for her drug use. I think that she is on probation and drug treatment is part of her punishment. She has spend a little (very little) bit of time it jail. She hasn’t gotten of scott free. Perhaps she has received special treatment because of her father, but I haven’t seen anything to indicate that he personally requested it.

[Liberal]

I recall when this case first came around and it seemed that it was/is standard in FL that ‘first time drug offenders’ were offered rehab.

According to the article, she has had “previous drug violations” (before these last two).

I seriously doubt that FLorida has a stock pile of first time minor drug offenders in prison (she was caught w/a fraudulent script, which keeps it at the ‘personal use’ stage, vs. dealing).

According to the Miami Herald, January 27, 2002, “For each of the last 10 years, more inmates have been admitted for drug offenses than any other charge. Last year, nearly 29 percent of those who entered Florida prisons had been convicted of drug offenses.” According to the Tampa Bay Observer, January 17, 2002, 54% of Florida’s prison population is Black.

I couldn’t find figures on Florida specifically, but according to a 1998 State University of New York, Stony Brook report, Between Politics and Reason, studying national statistics:

[W]while first-time drug offenders in the past were very rarely sent to prison (in the past, probation was a common sentence for a drug offender), today, increasingly, they are far more likely to be incarcerated. In 1980, only 8 percent of the population of state prison inmates were incarcerated for a drug offense; today, this is 26 percent; over a third of new admissions to prisons are drug offenders (Butterfield, 1995; Lindesmith Center, 1996). Hence, our hugely expanding prison population. American society is not committing more crime (in fact, the crime rate has been dropping since the 1980s), but our criminal justice system is clearly becoming more punitive, specifically toward violent offenders and drug offenders.

[Sofa_King]

Now, how do you like that? Is that a good rationale for different punishments?

I don’t know if it’s good rationale or not, Apos, but I think you have very succinctly hit the current status quo quite squarely on the head.

[Liberal]

I recall when this case first came around and it seemed that it was/is standard in FL that ‘first time drug offenders’ were offered rehab.

According to the article, she has had “previous drug violations” (before these last two).

I seriously doubt that FLorida has a stock pile of first time minor drug offenders in prison (she was caught w/a fraudulent script, which keeps it at the ‘personal use’ stage, vs. dealing).

According to the Miami Herald, January 27, 2002, “For each of the last 10 years, more inmates have been admitted for drug offenses than any other charge. Last year, nearly 29 percent of those who entered Florida prisons had been convicted of drug offenses.” According to the Tampa Bay Observer, January 17, 2002, 54% of Florida’s prison population is Black.

I couldn’t find figures on Florida specifically, but according to a 1998 State University of New York, Stony Brook report, Between Politics and Reason, studying national statistics:

[W]while first-time drug offenders in the past were very rarely sent to prison (in the past, probation was a common sentence for a drug offender), today, increasingly, they are far more likely to be incarcerated. In 1980, only 8 percent of the population of state prison inmates were incarcerated for a drug offense; today, this is 26 percent; over a third of new admissions to prisons are drug offenders (Butterfield, 1995; Lindesmith Center, 1996). Hence, our hugely expanding prison population. American society is not committing more crime (in fact, the crime rate has been dropping since the 1980s), but our criminal justice system is clearly becoming more punitive, specifically toward violent offenders and drug offenders.

[wring]

Lib her first criminal conviction was this one in January. this is her second violation of terms of her conviction from January.

I do not claim that Fl (and everywhere else) doesn’t have a whole bunch of drug violations in prisons, what I am claiming is that in my experience, it is damned rare (I’ve never seen/heard of a case) where some one’s first criminal conviction, was for a user type quantity of drugs and they received prison time.