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High Society: U.S. drug policy a total failure, say users and experts
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Like anything else, people just want to avoid the issues they face so they do it by means of illegal escape.
You want to escape? Go to a movie. Go hiking. Go help someone worse off than you. Don't do things that ultimately harm society.
1) I hear stories about users/dealers ruining the lives of themselves and others,
2) I don't want to hurt my mind or body with such drugs as cocaine (so psychologically addictive that users claim one time got them hooked), marijuana (which takes away many users' drive to succeed in work and school), meth or heroin (both of which ruins one's health and is so addictive that regular housewives will do anything, including prostitution, to feed the habit. Meth and heroin users both look worn out and ugly),
3) I don't want a felony on my record, which would highly restrict my ability to choose a career path and prevent me from legally owning guns,
4) I want the freedom of a life free of substance abuse. I watch shows and documentaries on people trying to kick a habit and realize they are so addicted either to drugs or to the "high" they bring that they have lost control of their life.
We lost the war on drugs when we stopped going after users and started concentrating on dealers. (continued)
Those of us who have avoided drug addiction want as little contact between users and our children as possible.
Why should we be susrprised that there is such a drug abuse problem when we see drugs advertised on television all the time?
I would suspect drugs are the reason for most of our crime.
You obivously know nothing about drug use and prison. You state, "the only surefire way to get somebody to stop taking illegal drugs is to lock them in a place where they cannot acquire them." Huh? You seriously have never heard of drug use in prison? Do you know how much it would cost to 100% prevent drug smuggling into prison.
You think that by prosecuting the user instead of the dealer, it will scare people straight. Do you know what an addiction is? You can not be scared away from an addiction to heroin. You need medical help and professional counseling.
Also, you state, "When we used to prosecute drug users for drug use alone it was a great deterrent to others from trying drugs in the first place. What high schooler wanted to be kickded out of school, off the athletic team, put into jail and basically ostracized from society, for the short term pleasure of taking an illicit drug?" We still kick kids off athletic teams and ostracize them through our communities, yet they still do it. Your point is moot.
I believe we either need to criminalize ALL addictive drugs equally or decriminalize all personal use while focusing our resources on education, treatment, and criminalizing drug-related crimes rather than simply use. If an adult can drink themself silly in their own home why is it suddenly illegal to do the same with marijuanna? There are more addicted individuals and crimes committed through the abuse of alcohol than other drugs COMBINED. I don't know the answer, but there is very little reason and logic behind current drug policies.
An example to help you understand better why someone might use is this:
There was a woman who told me her adult daughter had been sexually abused by her father growing up. After hearing this I could see how this adult daughter that has never had any counseling was constantly on drugs or alcohol, I saw it as
an escape from the ugliness that she grew up with. I can understand why she numbs herself.
Also there are plenty of young athletes that get hurt and are started on prescriptive pain killers. Extremely addictive.
IT IS A COMPLETE WASTE OF OUR RESOURCES, look at how the Nazi State has progressed under the war on drugs. We spend way to much on "Law Enforcers", Judges, Court Houses, Jails, Prisons.
The laws were passed by elected officials that are Lawyers (they are in the industry) these laws benefit them.
Time to step back and invest in something productive.
Now can you get the editorial page to follow up with a call for an end to the WOD?
And contrary to popular belief, 28 days in rehab barely serves as a long enough time for detoxification, let alone unraveling the underlying issues of someone's drug or alcohol addiction.
For those with the genetic and environmental predisposition for addiction, the substance is merely the vehicle they use to medicate so that they feel better than the awful way they feel normally. And telling such a person to not medicate and just face life, is no more effective than telling someone with diarrhea to just use willpower.
What we are doing right now with social policy and with addiction treatment is comparable to treating a sick plant by polishing the leaves to make it look better. But the problem only shows up in the leaves, where it lives is deeper down, within the roots. And until we place our focus and our funds there, nothing will change.
I do know that there is a veritable industry surrounding incarceration. The privatization of prisons has created a huge lobby that promotes stiff penalties for minor drug offenses. This lobby does everything it can to promote the construction of more prisons and tough laws to keep them full.
This is typical Deseret News to present a problem, but not offer a solution. Let's see if the moderator censors this comment too, because I will suggest an organization that can help end the failed war on drugs: the Drug Reform Coordination Network.