Marijuana: Lies, Damn Lies and Julia Negron
Julia Negron
Have you ever heard the name Julia Negron who lives in the Sunshine State? Negron, her former husband(s), mother, sister and son were drug abusers. Her mother and sister died from drug overdoses. You would think Negron would be against all forms of drug use and abuse. You would think she would be a proponent of the Just Say No campaign. You would be wrong, in fact she is feverishly working to legalize drug use.
Negron believes that no one should be arrested, tried or convicted for the use, abuse, selling or trafficking of drugs. She is for legalizing the use of marijuana in Florida. Negron is the Director of PATH Florida, and a Steering Committee member of Moms United to End the War on Drugs.
On July 18th, 2015 Negron will be speaking at the Venice United Church of Christ monthly meeting. According to the meeting notice posted on Facebook, “Her passion is decriminalization and ending the mass incarceration of drug offenders.”
There is a problem with Negron’s pitch, it is based upon an ideology, not the facts.
Julia Negron claims to be a Drug Policy Alliance (DPA) grantee according to her Facebook page. The Drug Policy Alliance is funded by George Soros. The Drug Policy Alliance is focused on ending the war on drugs, calling it a failure. The question is what would make the War on Drugs a success? Negron has photos on her Facebook page carrying end the drug war signs (with the DPA logo) and photos of her in New York at the DPA headquarters.
Negron may use Open Society Foundation as a reference for her data….the Open Society Foundation (OPF) is another project funded by George Soros. According to the OP website they believe that, “Prohibition-based policies have led to a rise in drug-related violence, prison overcrowding, and an increase in HIV epidemics. The Open Society Foundation’s support organizations that put forward alternatives.” Alternatives that OPF supports include: marijuana legalization and Onsite, facilities where heroin users can bring their drugs and have them injected by staff members. George Soros has made no attempts to deny and openly admits that he is for legalization of all drugs.
Negron talks about the “mass incarceration of drug offenders.” This is not true based on prison data. The two charts below show what Negron is saying is not born out by the facts on those in prison for marijuana use:
The majority of “drug charges” are actually paper citations not resulting in a physical arrest or jail time. Those who are in jail or prison on marijuana charges, the 0.1 or 0.3 percent, are cases that have been pleaded down from trafficking large amounts of drugs and related charges.
Negron is a promoting one side of the story, when both sides deserve equal time. Perhaps Reverend Donald H. Wilson, the Senior Pastor of the Venice United Church of Christ, would want his flock to hear both sides of this important social issue?
As Negron so very well knows drugs kill.
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Dear Dr Swier;.
Since you feel the need to do a “smear” on my personal politics I must add that personally I am also in favor of gay rights, a women’s right to choose and the “Black Lives Matter” movement. I am against hate groups that worry about “white extinction”. Now you know that I am a liberal.
However none of this has to do with me speaking on Drug Policy reform. The work I do nationally around reform is supported by leaders from the full spectrum of political positions. (see below article)
Although I know and work with people that believe in full legalization, most specifically LEAP (Law Enforcement Against Prohibition) I am not “feverishly working to legalize drug use” in Florida. To understand this one needs to know the difference between my belief in Portugal style decriminalization (the quote you lifted) and legalization. Let me educate you a little: decriminalization means that drug production, possession, and consumption, though still illegal, are not criminal but civil offenses, and therefore, those who break the law by engaging in these activities are subject to fines and other minor penalties, not jail time. Legalization, on the other hand, would mean that drug production, possession, and consumption are all legal. I don’t recall ever making any statement on consequences for drug trafficking.
Nor have I made any public statements on my personal belief regarding Marijuana laws in Florida. My focus since coming to Florida has been on building a “Harm Reduction” infrastructure and addressing the overdose epidemic that has plagued this state. As you noted, I have many personal reasons to be involved in such work. Because I know the harms, I HAVE been “feverishly” working to implement community-based distribution of Naloxone, an opioid reversal medication that instantly reverses opioid overdose. We were lucky enough to have a Naloxone access bill signed this year in Florida and lives will be saves with this enhanced access.
I am quite familiar with all the SAM charts – but you must concede that many even in your own Tea Party support ending the failed War on Drugs.
“WHEN Hillary Rodham Clinton, Ted Cruz, Eric H. Holder Jr., Jeb Bush, George Soros, Marco Rubio and Charles G. Koch all agree that we must end mass incarceration, it is clear that times have changed. Not long ago, most politicians believed the only tenable stance on crime was to be tougher than the next guy…Today, nearly everyone acknowledges that our criminal justice system needs fixing, and politicians across the spectrum call for reducing prison sentences for low-level drug crimes and other nonviolent offenses.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/24/opinion/sunday/how-to-lock-up-fewer-people.html?_r=0
I guess I should be honored that you choose me to single out as a reformer. Next time you can ask me directly and we can have a conversation on the intersection of all our political beliefs – the intersection where we serve the public health and public safety in sensible ways.
Julia Negron
“Every Life Is Worth Saving”
Julia,
Thanks for commenting on my column about the importance of debating both sides of the issue of drug use and abuse.
I note that you called yourself “a liberal.” I take this to mean you are a Collectivist and believe you have the only correct answer to this important social issue (as do the two others who left a comment in support of you).
I also find it typical of liberals to take the role of a victim proven when you wrote, “a ‘smear’ on my personal politics.” Disagreeing with your personal politics is part of the dialogue, don’t you agree?
I also noted that as a liberal you take positions that are in conflict with one another. For example, you support both a woman’s right to choose and the black lives matter campaign. What is most interesting is that if you really believe that black lives matter you would be against abortion. You know that over 70% of abortion clinics are in minority neighborhoods. If black babies were not being aborted daily the black population of the U.S. would be 31% rather than 13%.
On the issue of drug use and abuse. If you believe in fairness and giving people both sides of the story you would insist on a debate between the pros and cons of drug use and abuse. However, from your Facebook page we see you are ideologically linked to the pro-use, decriminalization side funded by those who think like you.
As you well know, drugs kill. I am saddened by the loss of your mother and sister to drugs. I am saddened by your sons conviction on drug related charges. However, each of those were a personal decision to violate the laws of man and of nature. Poisoning one’s body is a personal choice.
The only way to stop the use and abuse of drugs is to do so by strengthening the moral values of the individual. Do this in the public school classroom, in our colleges and universities, in our churches and synagogues and in the public square. Show what happens to an individual who uses and abuses drugs.
You say you are committed to “building a ‘Harm Reduction’ infrastructure.” That infrastructure includes giving drugs to drug addicts. You know as a drug abuser, daughter of a drug abuser, sister of a drug abuser, wife of drug abusers and mother of a drug abuser, that addiction is a personal choice. Replacing one drug with another does nothing to solve the basic issue – making wrong choices in life. Drug use and drug abuse are choices. There is no infrastructure to solve this. No one can legislate or de-legislate making wrong choices.
Decriminalization is not the answer. The answer lies in the conscientiousness of every individual. Just as smoking does harm to the human body so does smoking marijuana or cocaine. But the later kill quicker.
I hope others read this column and seek both sides of this issue.
To understand how drug use turns into drug abuse and affects one’s life please read Fearless: The Undaunted Courage and Ultimate Sacrifice of Navy SEAL Team SIX Operator Adam Brown.
First, your article is full of inaccuarcies and untruths. There is a HUGE difference in decriminalization and legalization. I suggest you educate yourself on this topic. Second, the war on drugs and just sy no campaigns are a huge failure as documented in several schoalrly sources. Third, if you need evidence above what you cited in your article, I suggest Harvard Medical School, or a plethora of scientific-based peer reviewed articles on the topic of harm reduction and drug policy reform.
Dr Swier its interesting that you quote Barry Goldwater and then completely ignore his principles when discussing drug prohibition. “My aim is not to pass laws, but to repeal them. It is not to inaugurate new programs, but to cancel old ones that do violence to the Constitution, or that have failed their purpose, or that impose on the people an unwarranted financial burden.”
As a Republican, a retired police officer (Lieutenant) and former resident of Florida its appaling to me the extent of the lack of information that there is concerning the harms of drug prohbition. America’s longest war has subverted the constitution through many means including civil asset forfeiture and the ability of Americans to be free from unwarranted search and seizure as a start.
Further from a fiscal standpoint the heavy emphasis on supply-side enforcement policy has done little to stem the flow of drugs into our communities and rather has increased death, disease and addiction. Literally look at the stories on the incraese of HIV and Hepatitis C based on the resurgence of opioid addictions not just in Florida but across the country. From a policy failure as a conservative you should understand that throwing dollars at the drug war has obviously not helped. Drugs today are cheaper, widely available and has the highest rate of purity. All signs of the failure of our policy.
As for the lack of offenders in prison for marijuana I will point out that last year we arrested over 1.5 million drug offenders and whether or not they end up in prison is immaterial. We are not going after kingpins as over 80% of all offenders are arrested for low value possesion arrests that further exacerbate our overcrowed criminal justice system causing more harm then good.
Unlike Ms. Negron I am one of those legalizers and a board member of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition. I am linking many of my articles on the failure of the drugwar. I encourage you tand your readers to read them and then maybe we can engage in rational discourse.
From an article on Alternet this week. “Over the weekend, the New England Conference of United Methodist Churches, which represents 600 congregations, voted for a resolution that calls for a complete end to the War On Drugs. The resolution points to Christian principles of redemption and restoration to replace the current system of punitive sanctions against drug users. Here is the link
http://www.alternet.org/600-churches-call-end-drug-war
So in realtity the Venice Church where Ms. Negron is speaking has taken up the mantle of fighting for justice and redemption by using compassion and not ideology. The position taken by you and others that support prohibition are increasingly becoming the outlier position.. And as for your title I would suggest that you actually read the book Lies, Damn Lies and Drug War Statistics that fully debunks claims made about the success of the drug war by the DEA and the Office of National Drug Control and Policy.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/the-next-ten-challenge/the-war-on-drugs-is-a-war_1_b_7572670.html
http://medicalmarijuana411.com/do-no-harm/
http://www.substance.com/author/diane-goldstein/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/diane-goldstein/
http://www.ladybud.com/2014/05/28/kevin-sabet-pushes-back-against-marijuana-legalization/
Therefore most serious cannabis growers choose
to remove and dispose of male plants when they show their balls.
Instead of posting stats why don’t you talk to those affected by this crisis and hear real, true stories. I was charged with trafficking in 2005 because I was in the bed of a truck when a prescription pill “deal” went down. I had only had minor traffic offenses before. Yes, I was an addict but was “sick” at that time and wasn’t caught with so much as a pill or a dime in my pocket. I was present when a felony was commuted so I was charged as well. Many of those charged with trafficking are simply addicts helping another addict score, not actual drug dealers. A true drug trafficker is often not a user and are in it for the money because as we know drugs are very lucrative. Since I was an addict I couldn’t pay court and probation fines so my suspended sentence was activated and I went to prison. Stop bashing those trying to save lives. You have a right to your opinion but at least educate yourself with the truth before you pass judgement and do more harm than good.
Jaime,
Thanks for reading this column and commenting.
I believe it is time for you to take responsibility for your addiction. Then, and only then, will you start down the path to recovery.