Farmer | Fighter | Independent Democrat
DRUGS, PRISONS, & CRIMINAL JUSTICE
RESTORATIVE JUSTICE. DECRIMINALIZE DRUGS.
Drug Policy:
End the failed “war on drugs.”
Start treating drug addiction as a disease, not a crime.
Decriminalize all drug use.
Amnesty (including commutation of sentences and expungement of records) for people convicted of non-violent drug offenses.
Urgently address the epidemic of opioid use in this country.
Hold accountable unscrupulous drug companies for their role in the opioid crisis, including forcing them to pay for treatment and harm reduction services.
Fully legalize marijuana for recreational use
Allow marijuana and hemp farming without imposing restrictions on their sustainable cultivation.
Prison Reform:
Ban extended solitary confinement. It is torture, plain and simple.
Ban the use of private prisons. When incarceration is a business, it becomes even harder to roll back. The prison-industrial complex must be destroyed.
Increase opportunities for education and skills-based training inside prisons.
Increase access to drug rehabilitation programs for prisoners.
Increase access to sex offender treatment programs in prisons.
Criminal Justice Reform:
Abolish the death penalty. Some criminals may indeed deserve death, but we should not allow government the power to kill. Far too many innocent people are killed, and it has been disproportionately used on people of color.
- Repeal mandatory minimum sentencing requirements for non-violent crimes.
Shift law enforcement focus away from drugs and on to sexual crimes, human trafficking, child abuse, domestic violence, and murder.
Increase penalties for corporate crimes (from fraud to pollution) and hold businesses and their decision-makers accountable for criminal behavior.
Force states and municipalities to fix their bail systems, which unduly discriminate against poor and indigent defendants (and is incredibly costly).
Take concrete steps to move the country toward a restorative justice model for dealing with crime. If the purpose of our justice system is to go beyond revenge and include real rehabilitation, restorative justice is the only way.