Word: draconianism
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...these reasons, it would seem to me highly desirable if the legislative authorities, national and local, were to revise the present laws with respect to marihuana, with their Draconian penalties. But I recognize that, as Charles Morgan phrased it, "Liberty is the room created by surrounding walls." And it is for the legislature to draw the lines of what is to be permitted as an open area of choice and what is to be prohibited as a social evil. So long as the legislature outlaws the possession of marihuana, the use of the drug, even in moderation, is fraught with...
Whatever the finding on Oteri's motion, antimarijuana laws will almost certainly not be wiped out by the current attack. In fact, only a few of marijuana's lawyer supporters favor untrammeled availability of pot. Most simply want to ease what they regard as Draconian penalties. Some reform does seem inevitable since even Food and Drug Administration Chief James Goddard agrees that the penalties for users are too severe...
Stigma of Extremism. Word of Morgenthau's Draconian design leaked to the press. Goebbels began exhorting the Reich to fight even harder in the face of defeat, since Germans had nothing to lose by death; Republican Presidential Candidate Thomas E. Dewey claimed that Morgenthau's plan had given Hitler as much of a boost as "ten fresh German divisions." Roosevelt, who at one point had mused that it might be good to return Germany to the homespun-wool economy of Dutchess County in 1810, backed warily away from both the plan and its author. F.D.R. nonetheless adhered...
Until the mid-19th century, sexual deviation involving man, woman or beast could be punished by death. The celebrated trial of Oscar Wilde took place under an 1885 law specifically decreeing that "indecent acts between males in public or private are a criminal offense." The old Draconian laws, however, did not fetch in many offenders: fewer than 100 homosexuals have been convicted annually in Britain in recent years, and the occasional publicized case has evoked more public sympathy for the defendant than support for the prosecution. In fact, the new bill really frees homosexuals from the fear of blackmail rather...
...Accra. The country is full of rumors about assassination plots against the military rulers. Two army officers and two other men have been arrested on the charge of plotting a countercoup. Cracking down, the military regime has enacted an antisubversion law that is reminiscent of Nkrumah's own draconian measures. Under the law, anyone who attempts to establish contact with Nkrumah, who plots subversion or who even knows about a subversive plot and fails to report it, is subject to summary trial before a special military court. The penalties range from 25 years in prison to death...