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03Lightningrocks wrote: ↑Fri Nov 08, 2019 7:41 pm

Redneck_Buddha wrote: ↑Fri Nov 08, 2019 12:20 pm

Liberty wrote: ↑Fri Nov 08, 2019 12:16 pm The heart of the drug problem is the consumer. You get rid of the consumer and the suppliers go away. Not prosecuting and actually punishing the abusers is the root of the problem. We need to clean up the problem from this side of the border before we focus on Mexico. Treating the druggies like victims has a track record of not working. We still need to go after the suppliers. but until we slow down the demand the problem won't go away.

Don't know when I've agreed any less with a post on this site.

Same here. Drug addiction is a disease, just like alcoholism and over eating. If throwing people in jail for using drugs was a real solution, we would have eliminated drug use 30 years ago. People caught in the possession of narcotics are going to jail for longer periods than ever before. The only thing that has been achieved is more people in prison. There are literally millions of Americans using marijuana, even though it is illegal in most states. Making it "more illegal" will have about the same affect on drug use as making guns "more illegal" has on people getting shot.

I can have sympathy for someone who got addicted to prescription painkillers, and then moved to harder illegal drugs for one reason or another. The "opioid epidemic" is proof of that. And as far as drinking alcohol goes, tens of millions of Americans use some quantity of alcohol, often regularly, but do not bring harm to themselves or others by doing so, though obviously there are a lot who do abuse alcohol. Some folks fall into alcoholism gradually, and that's tragic. I was a bit of a drinker myself when I was a young servicemember, and I know that you can let alcohol get the best of you if you don't watch yourself. However, IMO, it takes a special kind of stupid to wake up one day and say, "Yep, I think I should smoke crack today, or maybe meth." Please note, I'm only talking about adult Americans who willingly and knowingly used those insanely addictive substances, despite all the wide-spread information that those substances are deadly to the user sooner rather than later. I'm not even bringing marijuana into this discussion because its effects are so different from "hard drugs" or alcohol. For the record, I have never used illegal drugs, not even marijuana, not even once. Hard to stay in the Air Force if you do that stuff, and hard to keep a security clearance after "retiring" from active duty, as well. I value my life and my career as an aircraft mechanic, and care more about my family than to do that kind of thing...plus, as corny as it may sound, I care more about my country than to do that.