As for the argument about the "triggering felony" being simply a drug offense, the Legislature and the community have repeatedly rejected the "victimless crime" rationale and recognize the role drugs play in criminal activity where there clearly are victims other than the drug user. It is appropriate here to note the comment of United States Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy in Harmelin v. Michigan (1991) 501 U.S. 1957, in which the defendant was sentenced to life without possibility of parole for possessing 672 grams of cocaine. The primary issue here was whether or not it was cruel and unusual punishment. Justice Kennedy stated:

"Petitioner's suggestion that his crime was nonviolent and victimless ... is false .... To the contrary, petitioner's crime threatened to cause grave harm to society. "Quite apart from the pernicious effects on the individual who consumes illegal drugs, such drugs relate to crime in at least three ways: (1) a drug user may commit crime because of drug-induced changes in physiological functions, cognitive ability, and mood; (2) a drug user may commit crime in order to obtain money to buy drugs; and (3) a violent crime may occur as part of the drug business or culture." (Harmelin v. Michigan, supra, 501 U.S. at pp. 1002-1003.)

It is true that 20.4% of the offenders sentenced under the doubling formula for "triggering" offenses with one prior "serious" or "violent" offense are convicted of simple possession of illegal narcotics such as heroin, cocaine, or methamphetamine. The same is true of 9.8% of third strike offenders. It is also true that 11.5% of second strike offenders and 9.3% of third strike offenders have been convicted of sale of narcotics, possession for sale or manufacturing of drugs. Perhaps in this respect I have a different view than the critics. I just don't regard the acts of people who make their living off the misery of others by selling narcotics, possessing narcotics with the intent to sell or manufacturing narcotics as 'just drug related crimes." The same is true of them as of those whose triggering offense was petty theft with a prior. District attorneys and judges have exercised their discretion not to strike priors and to impose the full consequences of the

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