James is now updating his blog more regularly through his associate pastor. It seems that James got himself in a pickle. He is looking at an in house treatment program or over three years in jail. He is hoping the district attorney will put the treatment option on the table. I hope very much that he gets treatment and not jail. Three years of jail is not a good way to get a substance abuser some help. Drugs and alcohol are, despite what most people believe, readily available inside the joint. James needs a good treatment program to help him get on his feet and to not spend three wasted years sitting in a jail cell.
I have strong suspicions that the charge was drug related and not alcohol related. Public drunkenness would have just meant a few nights in jail and a slap on the wrist. A drug charge carries much stiffer penalties.
James has had several blogs over the past few years. Most people do not know of his very first blog. It takes some googling to find it. I have lost the link but will post it later if I happen upon it. In James’ first blog he was very honest about his lifestyle of promiscuous sex, alcohol abuse, and drug abuse. He lived a very chaotic lifestyle of bouncing around with multiple partners, sleeping in rail stations, and partying at different bars. In his subsequent blogs he really toned down what he wrote about his life.
I have a strong opinion on this matter. I think the war on drugs is the most misguided attempt at social reform this century. Our jails are filled to overflowing with people nabbed on drug charges. Very often, a drug charge carries much stiffer penalties than more traditional crimes such as theft or assault. The authorities can take away every thing you own if you get caught with a certain amount of controlled substance in your possession.
I am all in favor of overhauling the current way drug offenders are dealt with and prosecuted. We are spending billions of dollars on the war on drugs and the war will never end. That money would be far better spent on treatment options than just putting these people in jail and letting them languish for many years. I also believe it would be far cheaper to treat these people for substance abuse than keeping them incarcerated.
A good lesson to learn about this matter was our nations foray into prohibition during the early part of this century. Prohibition exacerbated the problem of crime and alcohol. The market for alcohol went underground and kept going despite the governments attempt to ban the sale there of. Many organized crime families built their great wealth and power moving around and selling bootleg alcohol.
Will legalizing controlled substances work? I think so. I think by creating a free market economy for the sale of drugs, their prices will drastically deflate. The easy thing about alcohol was that I could get drunk on $5.99 a day. Most drugs cost many times that amount. I think the high cost of drugs is part of the crime problem associated with them. If drugs were legally sold and regulated like alcohol then a lot of crime associated with them will dissipate. I know for sure that it would free up huge amounts of people in our prison populations.
My main point I wanted to get across was the treatment option instead of incarceration. If we spent half the money we spend on the war on drugs in a proactive instead of reactive approach then we would go a long way to helping with the problem. Giving people the help and means to get cleaned up and sober and not just locking them away out of sight and mind will go a long way to solving the substance abuse problem that is prominent in many of the poorer neighborhoods in our country. Proactive treatment not reactive incarceration is the key. Okay, I will get off my soapbox.
No comments:
Post a Comment