Two Texas Officials Win Drug Warrior Award

State Sen. Florence Shapiro, R-Plano, and Williamson Co. District Attorney John Bradley are good drug warriors. And now they're being honored for it.

The Drug Free America Foundation said yesterday that it is honoring Shapiro and Bradley with the group's so-called "Moxie Award" for their commitment to "supporting anti-drug issues" and "combating efforts that seek to destroy drug prevention, treatment and law enforcement." (What? Who the hell wants to "destroy treatment"?)

I would agree that Shapiro and Bradley are anti-drug – but I'd also suggest that they've both demonstrated that they're also anti-thinking-beyond-the-drug-war. Shapiro, for example, has voted against instituting one-for-one anonymous needle exchange in Texas each time it has come up in the Senate. She is among a small contingent of holdouts who apparently aren't interested in saving the state money by reducing the spread of communicable disease, or protecting law enforcement and other first responders from possible needle strikes.

And then there's Bradley, the law-and-order D.A. in Williamson County who has been proud to throw the book at low-level drug offenders, sending them to prison for long stretches – a move that, BTW, might save his county budget from incarcerating offenders for shorter stretches, but taxes the state budget (that is, all state taxpayers) to house these inmates – but does nothing to actually get them off drugs.

Of course, this sort of approach meshes well with that of the DFAF, which posits that drug prohibition works just fine and that decriminalizing or legalizing drugs would just increase drug use without wiping out the black market.

So, congrats warriors. Bravo.