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Dallas News: 35-year pot sentence unreasonable, excessive

Abraham Lincoln famously said that "The best way to get a bad law repealed is to enforce it strictly." If that's true, perhaps in the future we'll look back at the recent 35-year sentence in Tyler for a petty pot offender as a turning point regarding Texas drug policy. Or perhaps we must inarcerate thousands more just like him before those lessons will be learned.At least the case has sparked a much-needed discussion regarding whether drug sentences are too high. In an editorial this morning, the Dallas News seems to generally agree with my contention that a 35-year sentence in Tyler for penny-ante pot dealer signals a need to reevaluate Texas' existing drug statutes: "What's the proper sentencing range?," asked the News' editorial board. "Something far less than the rest of his life, which could be the case now and could stick the state with the tab for health care in Wooten's last years...continue to full post

Full post as published by Grits for Breakfast on March 11, 2010 (boomark / email).