WOW, I couldn't disagree more with this editorial. I also think a drug registry, not for known users, would be beneficial in the war on drugs.
6-11-2009 Massachusetts:
Oh, who are the people in your neighborhood?
In your neighborhood?
In your neighborhood?
Say, who are the people in your neighborhood?
The people that you meet each day.
— Sesame Street song
Everyone can’t live on Sesame Street, and sometimes our neighbors are the kind that that even Bert and Ernie would mind.
Sexual predators rank high on the list of undesirable neighbors, which is why we have sex offender registries that allow us to find out if the worst of that ilk are living among us. Some have questioned the value of the registry, citing cases where teenage boys who were on the list for having had consensual, but illegal sex with their girlfriends, where branded for life as Level 3 offenders. And then there cases where those lists have been used by vigilantes to harass, beat or kill convicted sex offenders.
I challenge anyone to find the worst of the ilk in today's public registries. As diluted as they have become the "worst of the ilk" are hidden by not only the teenage consensual sex and experimentation cases, but also folks who have never committed a sex crime and others. Lawmakers have totally lost sight of why registries were first enacted, and today use registries to further punish folks who lawmakers thought the courts did not punish sufficiently, as well as to keep lawmakers in office; registration laws are today's political tools.
But others, who see this as a way of keeping a community informed, ask why limit lists to sex offenders? There are others equally as dangerous and undesirable and the public should be made aware of them as well. Some states have responded to that line of thinking by either expanding existing sex offender lists to include other categories or creating new lists for other criminal offenses.
In some states murderers and other violent criminals can be tracked the same as sexual offenders. And though some will argue that those who’ve served their sentences should be given the opportunity to rejoin society, there are some pretty nasty characters on those sites. And while having it known that the guy next door is a convicted killer doesn’t do much for your property value, it might give you cause to pause before you invite him over for a barbecue or complain about how neat he keeps his lawn. In other words, it serves a purpose.
The problem is that, where states DO NOT list offenders of non sex crimes, the real risks and dangerous people are allowed to hide in anonyminity in the community. Lawmakers, by their failures, hide the most dangerous and then the real purpose (making communities safer)of registries is lost.
Drug offenders (with the exception of several states that have made the names of convicted methamphetamine manufacturers available to the public) haven’t been subject to the same scrutiny. State Rep. Demetrius Atsalis, D-Hyannis, has taken steps to correct that oversight by filing legislation calling for a narcotics offender registry, modeled after the three-tiered sex offender registries. The list, placed on an easily accessible Web site, would include the name, address and photo of those deemed most likely to re-offend as a way of making citizens aware of the drug dealer down the street.
But as destructive as drugs can be to a community, there are marked differences between drug dealing and sexual and violent crimes. Drug dealing is a commercial enterprise, and while that can be true of murder and sexual crimes, with drugs it’s the case all the time.
Someone seems to have lost sight of those who ONLY use drugs, example, children in schools who are doing no more than taking drugs to get high, but of course that MAY ultimately lead to them becoming one who sells drugs, IF THEY LIVE THAT LONG! Also true of many adults who use for recreational purposes; many users are not dealing, should they be exempt from a drug registry?
Unlike murderers and rapists, drug dealers don’t seek out their victims. Often, it’s the dealer who is sought out. As such, some view a drug offender registry as yellow pages for junkies.
How anyone can say that drug dealers DO NOT SEEK their victims is beyond me. However, drug dealers merely position themselves in areas where folks are likely to find them (i.e., close to school zones) and send the word out to the masses of where one can buy drugs, but thats not seeking victims, or isn't predatorial?
But even if that isn’t the case, it’s unlikely to stop drug dealing. Like any other business, drug dealing is a matter of supply and demand. If you take a murderer or a sex offender out of the community another one isn’t going to come in to take their place. Bust a drug dealer and the void will be filled faster than you can post their name on the Internet.
Clearly this columnist has no concept of who commits sex crimes, 95% of new sex crimes are committed by someone who has never before committed a sex crime. Remove one, and victimization of his/her victim/s stops, but if you remove one drug dealer then victimizations of MANY victims stops. As to any one offender (drug dealer-sex offender) statistics show that a drug dealer would have far more victims than would a sex offender.
It’s also a hierarchical industry with those at the top often insulated from exposure and those at the bottom, who are more likely to be caught, apt to be addicts selling to addicts in order to support their own habit.
Finally, he recognizes users...
“Most of the people that are involved with drug distribution are users,” said Ray Tamasi, president of the addiction treatment center Gosnold on Cape Cod. “It’s not uncommon for people who are coming to treatment to have had a finger in sale and distribution. It’s part of the loop. Using requires money to get drugs and drug money comes from dealing because that’s the world that [drug users] live in.”
Drugs are responsible for a multitude of crimes committed by people who, were it not for their addiction, would not have turned to crime. Keeping them tethered indefinitely to that life decreases their chances of getting straight or staying straight.
And many sex crimes are the result of drugs. i.e., date rape drugs for one. Further, there is nothing commercial about date rapes either. This columnist is way off base with his thoughts.
“I don’t see how it [encourages] people to seek a way out,” Tamasi said.
Well-intended as it may be, a narcotics offender registry could turn out to be something that perpetuates rather than alleviates a problem. ..Source.. by Joe Burns
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