Thursday, March 10, 2011

Sen Brown (OH_D) to Increase Police State through War on Drugs

Sen Brown to Increase Police State through War on Drugs; The Ohio Public Square

Senator Sherrod Brown (Democrat) released a statement calling for special “tactical diversion squads” to be created in Ohio to arrest prescription drug offenders and increased federal law enforcement operations to “combat” methamphetamine labs.
"Now is not the time to retreat on our war against the prescription drug epidemic, which is costing Ohio families, communities, and taxpayers,” Brown said. “Drug abuse has hit Ohio particularly hard—from Oxycontin to Vicodin to methamphetamine, it’s clear that this epidemic won’t be going away anytime soon. It’s nothing short of shocking that considering the enormous drug abuse problem in our state, that our state has no Ohio-based tactical diversion squads to help deal with this crisis. That’s why I asked Attorney General Holder to work with me and my state to establish tactical diversion squads as well as provide federal backing to clean up meth labs. I fully intend to work with him and the Department of Justice in the coming months to establish a tactical diversion squad and help combat this epidemic."
While Ohio does have a problem with prescription drug abuse and methamphetamine, which is on par with the rest of the states, creating special paramilitary teams, increasing the presence of federal law enforcement within the state and increasing prison sentences is not the answer. This will only increase the growing police state that has enveloped Ohio since 9/11 and will add to the number of nonviolent criminals in our already overcrowded prison system.

It should also be noted that Ohio’s “Progressive” Senator is quick to ratchet up the police state through the neoconservative launched “War on Drugs,” yet fails to make the connection between the drug problem and our dismal economy in Ohio, which ranks 48th in the country. Maybe they wouldn’t be so inclined to do drugs with all their idle time or to resort to the manufacturing and the distribution if these folks had jobs.

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