Drug abuse of any kind of is a medical issue, not a legal issue and should be treated as such.

[Kurska]

People addicted to drugs need medical assistance and counseling, not jail time. The war on drugs has utterly failed our nation. We need to stop treating people with addictions like criminals. It didn't work for alcohol and it doesn't work for any other drug. As long as we continue to treat people with legitimate medical issues like morally failed degenerates who need to be locked away for our protection, the worse this problem with will become in our society.

[closeupready]

1. True. The confusion likely stems from the convergence of drug abuse and other criminal deviance.

That is, there is a high degree of correlation between drug abuse and commission of other kinds of crimes, like theft and armed robbery.

[Comrade Grumpy]

7. That is a function of drug prohibition, not biopharmacology.

[closeupready]

10. Not when the abuse leads to addiction and thus financial destitution.

Then, it is a real correlation.

[Comrade Grumpy]

12. How many alcoholics do you see holding up liquor stores?

Their drug is legal and cheap.

Heroin addicts don't have an urge to go out and rob people; they have an urge to obtain heroin. If they can buy their little bundle of bliss for a couple of bucks at the store, they will.

[iscooterliberally]

2. Also drug use isn't always abuse.

We seem to have this mental set that no one can responsibly use an addictive substance and not lose their minds. I was basically body slammed to the pavement at 40 mph (motorcycle wreck). I had multiple fractures and spent a week in the hospital. My doctor was freaked out about my opiate use even though I was taking the pills as directed. He told me that the pills could ruin my life. I told him that the only thing that was going to ruin my life would be our county's insane drug laws. This was about 7 years ago. I don't take opiates anymore. I was on them for quite some time and had withdrawal symptoms when I stopped. Honestly I would take opiate withdrawal over a bad hangover any day of the week. I realize that this is me, and other people have a different reaction. What I don't understand is why I can't by a bottle of percocet in the same way that I can buy a bottle of booze. I'm an adult over the age of 21, not a 6 year old. I understand that there is a cost to using any drug. I can and have used drugs responsibly. I resent our country's nanny state fucking drug laws. They aren't based on science, or logic or reason. They are designed to lock up and abuse people.

[Mariana]

3. Exactly right.

An active alcoholic is absolutely an addict and is abusing that particular drug. Yet, alcoholics are left alone, to drink themselves to death if they so choose, as long as they don't drive drunk or commit any other crimes.

[SoLeftIAmRight]

4. YEA

but who get the money?

Prison system or liberal social workers

I vote against the "justice" system

[PRETZEL]

5. I agree with the premise, but.......

I see it somewhat differently. Right now, my wife and I are dealing with this exact topic with her son. Yes, drug addiction should be treated as a disease but it does become a legal issue when actions taken by someone who is using drugs, and are impared by those drugs to where they are committing crimes, especially driving under the influence, where the public safety is at risk then is by all means a legal issue.

Case in point, my stepson was 20 at the time of his sentencing, was sentenced to probation with mandatory drug testing. However, because of his age, he was never made to go to counseling or be treated for his addiction. It was voluntary. During the last year, he's been caught twice with small amounts of pot in his car or now herion which became his new drug of choice. Finally just yesterday after 3 failed drug tests, two voluntary attempts at rehab, numberous times having money taken from our house, being lied to in order to get money his probation was revoked and he's now in jail. It was his drug abuse that caused these violations. It is a legal issue. The fortunate thing is that he's never hurt anyone (aside from me which was his original offense). He's lucky.

Is a better question (and this is the one we feel is appropriate) is when drug addiction is the underlying cause for the committing of other crimes, wouldn't mandatory court ordered rehab a more just and appropriate sentence?

[iscooterliberally]

6. This would still be a legal issue if alcohol were the drug of choice.

Driving impaired should be illegal no matter what, and stealing is wrong no matter what the underlying cause is. I'm sorry for what you and your wife are going through. I have been through the same with my father, who died at 69 from alcoholism. He also spent multiple stints in jail for DUI. In spite of that I think that alcohol should remain legal for adults over 21 to consume in a responsible manner. We shouldn't punish everyone because someone might have a problem with alcohol. I also had a step son serve time in jail for cannabis possession. He got caught in high school selling a nickel bag to one of his friends. The friend had been busted earlier and the cops were using him to bait other kids in the neighborhood. As far as opiates go, it's really a crap shoot as to who gets addicted and who doesn't. I have read that it's like 1 out of every 4 people get addicted. I have spent months on opiates myself and had to deal with the withdrawals when my injuries healed. People should be punished for real crimes like stealing and committing acts of violence. I know in my father's case he was sent to a 30 day rehab when I was a senior in high school. Unfortunately for us and him, it just didn't take. Our nations drug laws only make things worse. There are many people who can't get pain medications that really need them and could use them responsibly. After all my experiences I feel that as an adult over 21, I should be able to walk into a pharmacy and buy some pain pills without a prescription. Making drugs illegal doesn't make them go away. It only makes them more dangerous and expensive. I hope that your stepson gets clean and gets his life together. I don't think our legal system is going to be any help to him though.

[PRETZEL]

9. Thanks,

Your last sentence is really what may ultimately be the underlying problem, but yet could also be a major part of the solution. In my stepson's case, both my wife and I recommended to the ADA that he be ordered into a rehab center for a period of time and his progress be monitored. Unfortunately that didn't happen and the reality being that someone his age, the nature of the offenses didn't necessarily put him at the top of the watch list. Someone who naturally has an addictive personality needs to learn tools to help him through this. They won't do it on their own for the most part, so alot of the subsequent issues could have been averted had he been ordered to go through a treatment program and a closer monitoring program.

[Comrade Grumpy]

11. Well, you're assuming that mandatory court ordered rehab works.

I feel your pain and frustration. Maybe this experience will change his ways. Maybe not.

But the record of drug treatment programs is not especially good.

On the up side, lots of people just grow out of their drug use. Without being arrested, without going through treatment.

And I suspect that problematic drug use, or "drug abuse" is not just a problem, but a symptom of a deeper problem. The kid needs to deal with whatever demons are driving him.

That said, I see little upside in his being in the clutches of the criminal justice system. The system doesn't care about him or you. It cares about grinding on.

And there's a huge honking inconsistency: We say drug abuse is a disease, but then we punish it with the law?

[PRETZEL]

13. I agree with everything you've said,

but the reality is that voluntary treatment has not nor do we see any semblances of him trying to make it work.

Yes, this is only one of a series of issues, but it has to start somewhere and he has to have no choices in the matter.

Yes, the system is less concerned about us and only concerned about grinding on. That shouldn't mean the system has to have a deaf ear and a blind eye.

There has to be a starting point and he has to have no say in it. That's the only way.

[Comrade Grumpy]

14. I wish you the best of luck. It's a heart-ache situation.

Maybe getting slapped upside the head will open his eyes. Sometimes it does.

But, ultimately, it's up to him. He has to reach a point where he wants to go in another direction. As I said above, in many cases, that just happens spontaneously (but not without some agony in the mean time).

He needs to find something to do with his life...besides drugs.

Or if he's going to use them, he needs to be responsible about it. (Sounds like an oxymoron, I know). That means not getting so strung out you have to rip people off. And not drugging and driving. Lots of people use drugs without falling down the rabbit hole.

[Dont call me Shirley]

16. If all these $ spent locking up drug users and the mentally ill were spent on creating and improving

rehab, then the percentage of recidivism would be dramatically lower. Actual healing could take place in intensive rehab.

[Gormy Cuss]

8. Currently jail is the only affordable place for some nonviolent offender addicts to get assistance.

That's how warped our system is.

[Dont call me Shirley]

15. The Crime Industrial Complex wants all the $$$ available, so they lobbied for the "right" to house

drug abusers and the mentally ill. Started under Reagan.