Hello, this is Mike's couch calling!

I read an editorial in the newspaper today (the St. Petersburg Times) about the overcrowding of prisons throughout the U.S. In the blurb, it was addressing Florida specifically although I am sure this applies to most areas of the country. The writer was complaining about the prison sentences being handed down to people that were caught driving with a suspended license for the third time as this is the third leading crime that landed people in prison. What were the first two? Theft and drugs. The writer just sort of breezed by those facts as if three strikes with a suspended license is not as bad as being caught with a bag of weed. I don’t know about you, but I want people that are caught with a suspended license for a third time in jail. It’s time to call off the “war on drugs.” This initiative against drugs (mainly marijuana) has been going on for the better part of two decades now. Over a trillion dollars, massive jail space and countless man hours of law enforcement personnel have been spent on the war on drugs over the last 20 or so years. Guess what? It hasn’t worked at all. I bet you any amount of money that I could take $50 and a couple of hours and get myself a bag of weed, no problem. Let me qualify that statement with this; I have no current connections with any drug sellers whatsoever. After all of this time and effort it is absolutely no harder to get your hands on drugs than it was 20 years ago. One other thing to consider, the last time I checked, this is America. Does anyone remember what freedom was actually like? Wasn’t it supposed to be that my rights ended where your nose began? Let’s stop pursuing this victimless crime and focus on violent criminals and keeping them in jail instead. Every time some murderer that was let out of prison to make space of a pot smoker kills again, my point is driven even deeper.

Don’t mean to get too political on you… Here’s one for you. Yesterday my wife informed me that our couch with the built in telephone was no longer working. Mind you, it’s not like we ever used the thing, but a little part of me died when I found that out. I figured one day if a person from a third world country ever visited my house, I would make a phone call on my couch as I shoved Oreos in my face. Not to be mean, just to see the reaction on their faces. Oh well.