It’s time to try something else

If you regularly use social media or read other comments online, you are likely aware that people seem to be especially malicious on the Internet.

We won’t debate possible causes, but we would suggest the ease with which people can express outrage on the Internet is one reason we’ve heard so swiftly, loudly and passionately from readers about Senate Bill 56.

Outrage is easy. But look deeper at SB 56 and maybe it does make sense to treat drug and alcohol crimes similarly.

If approved, the bill would reduce the penalty from a felony to a misdemeanor for possession of small quantities — user’s amount — of drugs like cocaine, oxycodone, heroin and methamphetamines.

“Ugh. Seriously. This is so wrong on so many levels!” reads a typical note in a thread of comments beneath a brief posted to our Facebook page announcing a meeting about this bill.

While we respect diverse opinions, in this case we believe this reclassification is a good idea.

It’s worth noting what’s the motivation for this bill and who introduced the legislation. This bill isn’t the work of some bleeding-heart-liberal, soft-on-crime Democrat.

In Alaska and elsewhere a national movement of conservative politicians referred to as Right on Crime is pushing corrections reforms as a way to save money. The movement has worked to reform the criminal justice system in Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas.

Texas is one of the success stories movement leaders brag most about. Say what you will about Texas, but it would strain credulity to describe the nation’s leader in state-sanctioned execution as being run by bleeding hearts.

We have tried as a state and a nation to deal with drug and alcohol addiction by locking up offenders for even miniscule quantities of illegal drugs. We’ve filled our jails and prisons with folks who may be better served through rehab programs, not long terms behind bars paid for by the rest of us.

Taking an 18-year-old first-time offender caught with cocaine in his pocket and labeling him a felon for life, is a disservice to this man for his lifetime. As a community, what we really need is for that young man to be successful at life — to earn a good wage, to be a good dad, to care for his family.

Huge swaths of our society are closed off to people with felony convictions, sometimes based on one mistake made at a time in life when few of us can honestly say we made consistently good choices.

Naysayers may argue that fewer drug addicts behind bars means more drug addicts on the streets and more crime. But statistics simply don’t bear that out. If anything, the numbers show a slight decrease in crime in states that have already done this.

As a nation, we’ve invested billons in our failed War on Drugs. There is no doubt that drug and alcohol abuse is a problem, but long prison sentences have proven they are not the solution.

It’s time to try something else.