still in shock about how soon election day is – and i’ve been having some lively conversations about prop 5, which is endorsed by all of the progressive/liberal voting guides that i’ve seen, but i also know a lot of folks are hearing the misleading arguments of prop 5’s many prominent opponents (like the last 5 governors of CA, who coincidentally are in part responsible for how fuct the current system is). so i wanted to put up some good counterinformation in case anyone is being swayed from supporting this much-needed reform. prop 5 was designed by the drug policy alliance, with whom i interned while i was in law school, and whose director, ethan nadelman, kind of reminds me of barack obama in his combination of bring really brilliant and inspiring…every time i’ve heard him speak on the vast injustices that the war on drugs have created, i’ve sat there thinking “someone please put him in charge of our national drug policy, please.” prop 5 takes his ideas and those of many of the best progressive minds in drug policy and criminal justice and puts them to the task of solving CA’s prison crisis.
i especially like this post from arianna huffington, which lays out the important issues, and the problematic motives of the opposition, excellently. i’d put some exerpts but don’t want to deter anyone from reading the whole thing, which really covers all the bases. please read, especially if you are undecided on prop 5. this post follows up huffington’s with some additional info.
prop5-prop36 is a fact sheet explaining how prop 5 works to expand to successes and fill in the holes of prop 36, like adding treatment for youth that is not currently covered by prop 36. and here is a long list of the supporters of prop 5, and an faq from the yes on 5 website.
please vote yes on 5! if you have any questions about it please feel free to ask me.
