Just when you thought you had seen it all comes this lovely gem from, of all places, the Live Free Or Die state:
The hearing on HB 1623, the bill to reduce penalties for marijuana possession, made for some interesting drama in the House Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee.
The most eye-opening statement came from Berlin Police Chief Peter Morency, president of the New Hampshire Association of Chiefs of Police. Morency claimed that “87 to 90 percent of our crime rate is directly related to drugs and alcohol.” This mention of drugs and alcohol in the same breath got the attention of Democratic Rep. Timothy Robertson of Keene. Robertson asked Morency if, following the logic of marijuana prohibition, he would be in favor of reinstituting alcohol prohibition.
To the astonishment of virtually everybody in the room, Morency didn’t say no. “Knowing what it (alcohol) causes to families, I certainly would consider it,” he said. “But I can’t go there – it’s something that’s legal now, and we have a huge financial burden as a result of it.”
Well, Mr. Morency, when you make things criminal, surely there will be more crime! What a discovery. This confused bureaucrat begs the question of course, for how can there be a crime without a victim? Also, non users pay a steep price in the form of “bad” drug raids as well as the suppression of liberties.
Someone should tell Mr. Morency that if you want ease the “financial burden,” as he calls it, the solution is to abolish the ban on marijuana and on everything else.
8:59 am on January 31, 2008
