ABC’s John Stossel takes note of Oklahoma’s Will Foster

(John Stossel’s Take) Back in 1998, for a 20/20 special titled “Sex, Drugs and Consenting Adults,” I interviewed Will Foster, who had been sentenced to 93 years in jail for growing marijuana to treat his arthritis.

After his case got attention, Foster’s sentence was reduced to 20 years, and after several years in prison he was given parole. But now he’s being hounded again, the Drug War Chronicles reports:

Although Foster settled into a law-abiding life in Northern California, picking up a new family along the way, and successfully completed what the state of California considered an adequate parole period, that wasn’t good enough for the state of Oklahoma. Upset that California officials hadn’t kept him on parole as long as they would have, Oklahoma parole officials demanded that he return to that benighted state to finish his parole. And when he, perhaps understandably, declined, [Oklahoma] issued a warrant for his arrest.

Foster has been sitting in a California prison for the last 16 months – apparently at a cost of $100,000 to taxpayers – while governor Schwarzenegger decides whether to extradite him to Oklahoma.

Why do we persecute people for a victimless crime?

Because prison guard unions lobby like hell.  Because well-meaning parents think pot will hook their kids on heroin.  Because moralists think they have the right to tell people how to live their lives.  Because Democrats wanted to look “tough on crime” in the 1980s.  Because Republicans don’t like hippies.  Because America has a nasty streak of racism and classism.

Oh, I’m sorry, that was a rhetorical question, wasn’t it?

I’ll be interviewing Oklahoma NORML’s Norma Sapp tonight regarding the Will Foster case.