Men Without Work
<i>If we want to see things began to change, we going to have to deal with this “variable.” Perhaps we should rethink our concept of incarcerating everyone found guilty of using currently illegal drugs. Maybe we need to rethink about how long felony convictions stay attached to personal records. When you can’t even rent an apartment in many states because you were a felon, and in some cases simply because you were charged with a felony at some time in the past, is it any wonder that we have large numbers of people not participating in the labor force? With 20 million former felons in America, we have attached a large anchor to our economic growth rate, and we have unfairly burdened these men and women.</i><p>Three months ago I was stopped in Vegas for jaywalking.  I was (illegally) searched after not giving consent.  I small amount of meth (which I was successfully using for cognitive enhancement for my job as a web app developer) and did 67 days in jail.<p>I lost everything.  All my possessions (I was living at a weekly and they only hold stuff for 30 days).  My laptops, phones, clothes, monitor etc etc.  I lost my well paying remote job that I had for 2 years and was probably the best job I&#x27;ve ever had.  Worse, I lost the respect of my boss whom I enjoyed a fruitful and meaningful professional relationship with.<p>The remote job was not easy to get as I have prior drug possession felonies in Florida.  The idea of having to go through all the hoops to find steady work again 1. at my age 2. as a felon and 3. living in a homeless shelter is almost too much to deal with.<p>So I am now homeless and unemployed.  I am living at the Catholic Charities shelter on Las Vegas Blvd.  I recently got a hold of a laptop and am trying to cobble together my resume and find some remote work as I don&#x27;t drive (I couldn&#x27;t afford it anyway).<p>The point?  It is going be almost impossible for me to replace the job I had, and in the meantime I&#x27;m suffering beyond all reasonable expectation for someone who simply was crossing the empty street with a small of amount of &quot;drugs&quot; on me.<p>Was this the outcome society wants me to have?  To wreck what small success I struggled to get over what amounted to an illegal search and seizure (that&#x27;s my PD talking, not me)?<p>Who was the victim of my &quot;crime&quot;? I have been using drugs for almost 40 years and am very experienced on their use for chronic pain relief and cognitive improvement, and to be honest I <i>need</i> it nowadays to keep my productivity high and to help with everything modern webdevs need to keep up with.<p>So yeah...&quot;Men Without Work&quot; is an ugly issue that keeps free-spirited people like me fucked up for no real reason whatsoever.