Proposition 5: Huffington Post Commenter Makes Better Argument Than Jerry Brown

Over at Huffington Post, Jerry Brown discusses his rationale for opposing Prop. 5. We’re still not convinced that he’s actually read the proposed law and as we said a couple of days ago, we think his opposition to Prop. 5 is unprincipled and motivated by his inevitable run for governor.

However  “lwaxanatroi”, a commenter over at Huffington Post who is also opposed to Prop. 5, caught our eye.  Unlike AG Brown, “lwaxanatroi” does have a  principled reason for voting “NO.”  While we are ultimately unconvinced by his fear of a second round of Rockefeller Drug Laws (2008 California ain’t 1973 New York) and encourage a “YES” vote, we here at Johnny California like “lwaxantroi’s” long-game, big-picture thinking and thought his point of view deserved to be pulled out of a comment pile and given a second home:

…This kind of mass diversion of drug offenders into mandatory treatment programs (well, you decide: is a choice between jail and treatment a choice?) led to a huge number of unrehabilitated addicts hitting the streets because the few addicts that actually wanted to get clean were always severely outnumbered by those gaming the system. The end result: the second round of “Rockefeller drug laws,” which were Draconian because now “everybody knew” treatment didn’t work. That’s my fear, that the inevitable failure of this program will result in even longer jail sentences in about five years. Yes, addicts need treatment, but I have strong personal reasons for knowing that no addict gets better because someone else told them to. One reason AA works is that ,at most meetings, the newcomer or the backslider is outnumbered by people who are, at least for that moment, committed to and happy in their recovery. You can’t get that kind of result with a roomful of people who are in treatment just to escape jail.