USA - Very concerning news from AZ - passed proposition shows how drug war goes too far!

[thundercles]

It seems Arizonans have gone proposition crazy on the latest ballot, passing most of the many propositions on it. Some of the concerning ones to this forum include a complete smoking ban from any indoor facility, including bars, head shops/tobacco stores, etc. I wonder how that one will effect the very popular huukah bars in the area, or if smoking huukah is considered traditional smoking. Another proposition passed looks great: it provides special funding to schools of young children, but completly paid for by an 80 cent cigerette tax! It's about time voters here stop expecting smokers to pay for everything.

This brings me to the very most unsettling propostition passed, which barely made it with a 52/48 percent. Here is the premise, methamphetamine users are utterly demonized in Arizona, I think child molesters may be more popular at the current time. This propostion passed which goes into effect in 2 months will completly remove bail from anyone arrested on any offense deemed "methamphetamine related" This is before trial people! A police officer can arrest you, say he found a baggie of something on you that may be meth, and you are automatically denied bail. Even rapists and murderers arn't automatically denied bail.

But the propostion goes further. It also completly denies anyone on trial for a meth-related offence ANY chance of probation. Since even minor possession of methamphetamine is a felony, this guarantees prison for anyone arrested for such an offense. If you are caught with methamphetamine, you are denied bail and automatically sent to prison upon conviction, there is something fundamentally wrong with that. It saddens me to see that drugs are so demonized and hated among a population of people that they would be willing to pay lots of money to severly punish (Arizona has a huge problem with its prison system already with overcrowding and is turning to privitization to solve the overcrowding problem. Stuffing this many extra people in prison will cost LOTS of money) and also deny rights that rapists and murderers get. Legislation like that makes me truly ashamed of being an American.

Despite your standing on methamphetamine which is highly controversial even among drug users, laws that deny any non-violent offender bail and probation despite ANY circumstances is plain wrong.