The Liberal Gun Club Forum

Drivers in Maryland's Harford County were subjected to a pre-Thanksgiving series of rolling traffic checkpoints aimed at cracking down on heroin. The checkpoints were of dubious legality, but that didn't stop Sheriff Jeffrey Gahler from interfering with motorists' freedom to travel down the road Tuesday in a law enforcement operation that netted primarily small amounts of cash and drugs…and a switchblade knife.

You don’t see many drug traffickers retire,” gloated Bill Furay, head of the DEA’s office in Beaumont, Texas, following the arrest of a wealthy couple from a tiny neighborhood in Pearland. “Either they end up in prison, or they end up dead.”

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Furay apparently never had time to give that lecture to his teenage daughter, Sarah, who was arrested earlier this month on drug-trafficking charges that could result in decades behind bars.

For years, Furay has styled himself the implacable scourge of drug dealers, becoming a familiar presence at triumphant DEA press conferences announcing mass arrests and seizures of contraband and proceeds.

Taking out a drug syndicate is an exercise in futility akin to bailing out the Pacific Ocean with a thimble. When the DEA “decimated” one narcotics syndicate, all it did was create an opportunity for another one to fill it. While Furay was busy with sting operations, controlled buys and press conferences, he apparently neglected to supervise his daughter Sarah, who was arrested at her College Station home on November 8 and faces a variety of narcotics-related charges.

A probable cause statement quoted by NBC affiliate KCEN claims that police found “31.5 grams of packaged cocaine, 126 grams of high grade marijuana, 29 'ecstasy' tablets, methamphetamine and 60 doses of a drug similar to LSD” in Sarah Furay’s bedroom. They also reported finding two digital scales, packaging materials and a handwritten drug price list. Police found text messages in her phone discussing drug transactions.

Sarah Furay faces at least three felony charges that would ordinarily result in long prison time: The aggregate maximum sentence would be 215 years behind bars and a $30,000 fine. That terrifying prospect notwithstanding, Miss Furay can be seen smiling broadly in her booking photo, which has been called the “happiest mugshot in America.” After spending a day in jail, the 19-year-old, referred to in press accounts as an “adorable drug kingpin,” posted $39,000 bond and was released. On November 23, the online magazine Death and Taxes reported that Sarah is the daughter of DEA official Bill Furay and Shawn Creswell, principal of the Coulson Tough Elementary School in Woodlands.

Today, for-profit companies are responsible for approximately 6 percent of state prisoners, 16 percent of federal prisoners, and inmates in local jails in Texas, Louisiana, and a handful of other states. While supporters of private prisons tout the idea that governments can save money through privatization, the evidence is mixed at best—in fact, private prisons may in some instances cost more than governmental ones. These private prisons have also been linked to numerous cases of violence and atrocious conditions.

Several industries have become notorious for the millions they spend on influencing legislation and getting friendly candidates into office: Big Oil, Big Pharma and the gun lobby among them. But one has managed to quickly build influence with comparatively little scrutiny: Private prisons. The two largest for-profit prison companies in the United States – GEO and Corrections Corporation of America – and their associates have funneled more than $10 million to candidates since 1989 and have spent nearly $25 million on lobbying efforts. Meanwhile, these private companies have seen their revenue and market share soar. They now rake in a combined $3.3 billion in annual revenue and the private federal prison population more than doubled between 2000 and 2010, according to a report by the Justice Policy Institute. Private companies house nearly half of the nation’s immigrant detainees, compared to about 25 percent a decade ago, a Huffington Post report found. In total, there are now about 130 private prisons in the country with about 157,000 beds.

tc556guy wrote:I don't care to live in a nation where things like heroin and cocaine are legal and can be bought over the counter.

shinzen wrote:This is one of those subjects where there is a wide degree of difference in this herd of cats. My semi-unpopular position is actually full legalization, with treatment and support for addicts.

RurouniKakita wrote:

tc556guy wrote:I don't care to live in a nation where things like heroin and cocaine are legal and can be bought over the counter.

I don't think anyone is calling for it to be available over the counter. Using the drugs shouldn't result in criminal charges that land what are essentially victims in prison. Instead they should be required to enter a rehabilitation program, which would probably end up being run by the same people as the prisons but ideally the only ones there would be other users, so we get less of the criminal academy that many prisons have become. Now if one is caught selling the drugs charges are absolutely required and should be prosecuted under the full extent of the law and put into regular PMITA prison.

tc556guy wrote: Once again, I don't care to live in such a society.

tc556guy wrote: Do addicts need treatment? Sure. But in my experience most wont get it, and when its court ordered they blow off multiple rehab programs at great cost to the taxpayers and without any repercussions to themselves

CDFingers wrote:I'm with True Texan and shinzen on this: legalize and treat addiction. It's cheaper, is the best reason. Plus, people get to exercise liberty.

CDFingers

CDFingers wrote:I'm not in favor of hanging anyone out to dry. I would prefer the social fabric provide the treatment option. This allows persons to choose rather than having the heartless libertarian mindset choose for them.

CDFingers

Coach wrote:

CDFingers wrote:I'm not in favor of hanging anyone out to dry. I would prefer the social fabric provide the treatment option. This allows persons to choose rather than having the heartless libertarian mindset choose for them.

CDFingers

We're not heartless. We would gladly donate to charities that would rehabilitate addicts. Choosing to seek treatment funded by extorted tax dollars is theft.

Coach wrote:

CDFingers wrote:I'm not in favor of hanging anyone out to dry. I would prefer the social fabric provide the treatment option. This allows persons to choose rather than having the heartless libertarian mindset choose for them.

CDFingers

We're not heartless. We would gladly donate to charities that would rehabilitate addicts. Choosing to seek treatment funded by extorted tax dollars is theft.