I just got a Robo-Call from “Friends of Brain Dubie.”  The subject was how scary, unsafe and irresponsible it would be to release non-violent criminals, and how Shumlin wants to do just that.

The problem is, there is no logic to the argument.  They are trying to make me scared, that releasing these people “onto our streets” will jeopordize our safety.  Evidently these “friends of Brian Dubie” don’t understand what “non-violent” means.  Should we fear for our safety if tax evaders and embezzelors are roaming the streets at night?

The elephant in the closet here is that “non-violent” is a buzz word for “drug users and dealers.”

Now if someone smokes pot in their own home, or if they grow a couple plants in their back yard and get caught, that’s a non-violent offender.  Am I afraid of that person?  No.  Is that person going to make the streets less safe?  No.  Should you and I, the taxpayers, be paying for that person to be sitting behind bars?  I say NO.

If that person went and stabbed somed someone, or robbed a bank at gunpoint when they were high on marijuana, then that would be a violent crime and they should be locked up.

I think we need to read between the lines here and while the buzzword is “non-violent” what Peter is really referring to is the many people behind bars for using or selling a controlled substance that really is a personal choice to use or not.  Putting people in jail for ingesting a substance, especially when it’s a plant, seems archaic to me.  Sure there are some embezzelors and tax evaders behind bars and we can debate that… but I think the majority of the people in question are in there for drug offenses.  Now keep in mind that our country has more people in jail per capita than any other country in the world, and the majority of these people are there for these so called “non-violent” offenses.  And accordingly, we spend more money on keeping people in jail than any other country.  So maybe we should actually think this through instead of trying to scare people.

I think also that Peter must be telling us he wants to change the laws and reduce the sentencing for these “non-violent” people too.  And presumably, if some of these substances were made legal like alcohol, that would take the dealers out of the picture and all we’d have left is the users to worry about.  So I guess Brian Dubie is telling us we should all run home and lock our doors be there could be pot smokers roaming the streets!

Peter is on the correct side of this issue.  The robocalls are just trying to scare people into voting for Dubie, without any basis in reality.  There’s no reason to be scared of pot smokers.  For the most part, they are pacifists and a bit lazy.  Something to be scared of?  Nah.

Of course, no Governor can make a law all by himself.  If this process ever began, there would be a long debate on which offenders are “non-violent” and which ones need to remain behind bars.  And a vote in the Legislature would be a part of the process.  I trust the legislature would do its part to keep the violent people behind bars and give some of these lazy potheads their lives back.

So I call BS on the “Friends of Brian Dubie” for trying to instill fear in the minds of voters.  Remember it’s the VIOLENT criminals we have to fear, not the non-violent ones.