The Libertarian Party of Georgia Welcomes Changes To Handling Drug Offenders, Favors Decriminalization Instead of Growing Government

In his inaugural speech, Governor Nathan Deal addressed an issue that the Libertarian Party of Georgia has long been aware of, the unusually high number of residents currently tracked by the Department of Corrections. “One out of every 13 Georgia residents is under some form of correctional control,” said Deal, adding that the total operational cost of the Georgia Department of Corrections is approximately $3 million a day. According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the state of Georgia has about 53,000 residents currently in jail, and 1,500 of those have a prevailing offense of possession of methamphetamine, crack, or cocaine. Reducing the number of nonviolent drug offenders currently in the state’s custody would dramatically reduce the operating costs of the corrections department.

The program the Governor has in mind to reduce these numbers is an expansion of the state’s 28 drug courts, one of which his son, Hall County Superior Court Judge Jason Deal, is in charge of. While it is true that the operating costs of the drug courts are drastically lower than the operating costs of processing the same offenders in the state’s prisons (a report from the Department of Audits in 2005 lists that savings as $10,293 per individual), the expansion of the courts themselves is an expansion of the state’s government, an expansion that would cost money to establish, and one that the Libertarian Party of Georgia opposes.

“Decriminalization of simple possession of marijuana does not equate to legalizing the substance,” explained the Libertarian Party of Georgia’s Executive Director, Brett Bittner. “Decriminalization would be treated by our legal system in a manner similar to a speeding ticket, where the offender, possessing less than a predetermined limit, would be required to pay a fine before his or her court date. The removal of six words from Georgia's Official Code would keep officers from arresting those in possession, judges from adjudicating bail hearings, county jails from being overrun with those who await trial, and allow the police, courts, and prisons to do what they were designed to do, which is find and keep the violent criminals behind bars.”

Reducing the number of Georgia residents behind bars for nonviolent offenses is a move the Libertarian Party supports, but not in a way that expands the current reach of the state’s government. Their position is that decriminalization would be more effective in that reduction, while also reducing costs as well as the size and scope of government in the state.

The Libertarian Party is Georgia’s third largest political party and the only party in Georgia promoting fewer taxes, less government and personal liberty for all Georgians. To learn more, please visit www.LPGeorgia.com

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FAMM Hails Elimination of First Mandatory Minimum Since Nixon Administration

/PRNewswire/ -- Today the U.S. House of Representatives passed landmark legislation to dramatically reduce the sentencing disparity between federal crack and powder cocaine sentences and to repeal the five-year mandatory minimum for simple possession of crack cocaine. The bill, S. 1789, already won unanimous approval from the Senate in March and now goes to the White House for President Obama's certain signature. Its passage marks the first time that Congress has repealed a mandatory minimum drug sentence since the Nixon administration.

"Members of both parties deserve enormous credit for moving beyond the politics of fear and simply doing the right thing," said Julie Stewart, founder and President of FAMM. "For those of us who have been pushing for reform for nearly 20 years, today's vote is phenomenal. To see members of Congress come together on such a historically partisan issue like this during an election year is heartening.

"The 100-to-1 disparity was an ugly stain on the criminal justice system," Stewart continued. "Nobody will mourn its passing - least of all, the thousands of individuals and families FAMM has worked with over the past 20 years that have been directly impacted.

"I am hopeful that the forces of reason and compassion that carried the day today will prevail again soon to apply the new law retroactively to help those already in prison for crack cocaine offenses," Stewart concluded.

While S. 1789 will not eliminate the mandatory minimum for trafficking crack cocaine, it will substantially reduce racial disparity in cocaine sentencing. The infamous 100-to-1 sentencing ratio will be reduced to 18 to 1. Moving forward, 28 grams of crack cocaine will trigger a five-year prison sentence and 280 grams of crack will trigger a 10-year sentence. Once enacted, the law could affect an estimated 3,000 cases annually, reducing sentences by an average of about two years and saving an estimated $42 million over five years. The bill does not provide any relief for people in prison serving crack cocaine sentences because it does not provide for retroactivity. The bill also provides for enhanced sentences for drug offenses involving vulnerable victims, violence and other aggravating factors.

For more detailed information about the history of the federal crack disparity and the changes that will result for S. 1789, go to the following link at FAMM's web site: www.famm.org.

Families Against Mandatory Minimums is a national nonprofit, nonpartisan organization supporting fair and proportionate sentencing laws that allow judicial discretion while maintaining public safety. For more information on FAMM, visit www.famm.org.

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