I am a so called "Drug Warrior."  A little life experience is all you need to realize that being a "Drug Warrior" is a good thing.

I have seen the effects of these drugs.  Heroin, marijuana, cocaine.  All have played a part in the lives a few certain members of my family.  And in no way can these be considered "harmless."  This has nothing to do with the illegal status of the drugs themselves.  Drugs consume your life.  They become the central focus.  Again, thanks to life experience, no damned study can change my mind on that one.  A person will walk all over family, friends...hell, anybody, if they get in the way of addiction.  And I can point to numerous studies on how addictive these illegal drugs are.

Drugs destroy lives and families.  I will continue to be a "Drug Warrior", because I personally have seen what they have the ability to do; and none of it is good.

I lost my godfather to heroin abuse and alcoholism, and my brother is an addict/alcoholic.  I have lost a lot of others due to alcohol use through accidents and whatnot, whether or not they considered themselves alcoholics.  It sucks.

HOWEVER, I am a firm believer that some drugs CAN BE harmless, while others are too addictive to call them so.  It also depends on the person taking them, and whether or not they have an addictive personality/nature.  It's kind of like smoking, whereas a nonsmoker may get lung cancer, and a 3 pack a day for 35 years dies with black lungs yet is cancer free.

I think there is something to be said about natural drugs (marijuana, peyote, hash, etc.) vs synthetics (meth, MDMA, crack cocaine, heroin, etc.) but then again I am not a doctor nor have I done any extensive research on the subject.  So, I can't offer much more than an opinion.  I can say though, that a lot of anti-depressants and "medicine" docs are prescribing these days are just as bad, if not worse, than street drugs, ie. vicodin, perkiset, morphine, and a host of others.

It's one of those conundrums I don't expect will be solved anytime soon.

Oh, and I think we need to take a long hard look at our judicial system, bc I think it's high time rapists got more time than a guy caught with a dimebag.

Once again we're hearing about a record opium crop in Afghanistan.

I've got the solution to that.

Put a Republican in charge of increasing the opium crop.  Give him a pallet of money, and send over a bunch of crop cultivation experts.

They'll end up killing off the crop within a decade.

Nice.

They get in deep - and the drugs they are addicted to are legal.

Ever seen someone wreck their whole life over pot?  Doubt it.

Pot lead from one thing to another.  Sure, it started out just making him a lazy son-of-a-bitch who didn't want to work.  Then it lead to other drugs.  Worse drugs. 

Ok, did this report come straight from High Times magazine or what?

Seriously, if you read it carefully, it does make some sense.  First of all, it's saying that some legal substances, such as alcohol, are as dangerous as illegal substances, which is true if they are misused.

Also, while abusing substances can lead to serious medical problems, making those substance illegal and criminalizing users doesn't help the problem.  It makes it worse.

We no longer jail alcoholics but realize they have a serious medical-pyschological problem.  We should recognize that all substance abuse, whether it's booze or heroine, is a problem and the user is a sick person in need of treatment, not jail time.

I believe the report also says that law enforcement should go after the criminal networks that provide the drugs.  I'm all in favor of that.  Those who import and sell this stuff are harming people.  And they are usually members of organized crime.  That's where the police should concentrate their efforts.

And reminding people that cigarettes, although legal, is also a dangerous and addicting drug is spot on.  How many people get up in arms when municipalities try to ban smoking in restaurants and bars?  Yet second hand smoke is worse than heroine or alcohol - I won't get addicted or get liver disease from my neighbor's drug abuse.  But I could get lung cancer, emphysma, and other lung ailments from my neighbor's second hand smoke even if I never pick up a cigarette myself.

On the other hand:  "A whole new crop of Republican disasters spread across the headlines this week.  Thus, Republicans can't govern and conservatism has failed America.  At least that remains something you can always depend on."

Phew, it's nice to know some things don't change :) 

 

not necessarily a criminal issue. It becomes a criminal issue when health issues are ignored.

And the number-one preventative, as found in multiple studies? Cheap, accessible "midnight basketball."  But the conservatives who ignore the data reject that as "soft on crime."

It is clear that drugs, legal or illegal, are harmful when abused.  It quite often destroys families and kills people.

It is simply insane to insist otherwise.

That said, I think the question of how we prevent drug abuse is important.  I think that our current strategy - which focuses on punishment - is not working.  That isn't to say that drug dealing should be legal, but I believe that we should decriminalize some drugs (pot for example) and focus on treating addiction.

Also, our military strategy in Columbia and Afghanistan is failing when it comes to the war on drugs.  We would almost be better off if we subsidized another crop in these countries given the money we are pouring into it already with little results.  The farmers find that growing poppy is more profitable, and the alternative is poverty.