December 7, 2000

Clinton: No Imprisonment for Inhaling
Florida Legislature Prepares To Pick Electors
More Children on the Dole?

Clinton: No Imprisonment for Inhaling

President Clinton, who tried to avoid the stigma of smoking marijuana by saying he never "inhaled," tells Rolling Stone magazine that people should not be jailed for using or selling small amounts of the drug.

In an interview with the rock magazine released yesterday, Clinton was asked if he thought that "people should go to jail for using or even selling small amounts of marijuana?" He told the magazine, "I think that most small amounts of marijuana have been decriminalized in some places, and should be."

He added, "We really need a reexamination of our entire policy on imprisonment. Some people deliberately hurt other people and they ought to be in jail because they can't be trusted to be on the streets. Some people do things that are so serious that they have to be put in jail to discourage other people from doing similar things.

"But a lot of people are in prison because they have drug problems or alcohol problems and too many of them are getting out -- particularly out of state systems -- without treatment, without education, without skills, without serious efforts at job placement."

The president's statements are part of the growing sentiment among Americans that the drug war has failed and should be reconsidered. The new Cato book, "Beyond Prohibition: An Adult Approach to Drug Policies in the 21st Century," explores alternative approaches to drug policy. It is edited by Timothy Lynch with an introduction by Milton Friedman and chapters by New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson, Roger Pilon and others.

Florida Legislature Prepares To Pick Electors

Florida's Legislature will hold a special session tomorrow to begin picking a slate of electors expected to choose Republican George W. Bush as the state's presidential winner if the results of its disputed election are still tied up in court on a Dec. 12 deadline, according to Reuters.

Senate President John McKay said he believed the lawmakers in the Republican-dominated Legislature should nominate a slate based on the state's Nov 14. provisional results -- meaning Florida's decisive 25 Electoral College votes would go to Bush, thereby giving him the White House.

In "Let the Legislature Decide," Cato Fellow Ronald D. Rotunda explains why the Florida Legislature has a role to play in choosing electors if the courts don't meet deadlines.

More Children on the Dole?

Just 12 percent of children eligible for federally subsidized child care got it last year, the Department of Health and Human Services reported as officials lobbied for more money in the upcoming budget, according to The Washington Post.

In 1999, more than 14.7 million children were eligible for child care subsidies using federal standards, but fewer than 1.8 million children got the help, HHS said in its annual report. That compares with just over 1.5 million in 1998.

HHS Secretary Donna E. Shalala urged Congress to approve an $817 million increase in this program as lawmakers enter final budget negotiations. That is a significant increase but much more modest than the large-scale child care programs President Clinton proposed in 1998 and 1999.

In "The Advancing Nanny State: Why the Government Should Stay Out of Child Care," Director of Education and Child Policy Darcy Olsen explains that government provision of child care is unnecessary since "child care fees have not changed in real terms since the late 1970s and the number of child care providers has kept pace with the swelling demand for child care."

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