Another casualty from the war on drugs?
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No. Read the article. She was stealing and forging checks to support her crack habit. She is a victim of her crack addiction itself. She was getting into legal trouble because stealing is a crime.
To the extent that crack is expensive it is because it is illegal. How is our society served by having her in prison? There must be a more sensible approach. (I think we should start thinking of fining people instead of incarcerating them.)
While I do not believe that people should go to jail for possessing or using drugs, I believe they should go to jail for other crimes that they commit.
Many former drug abusers will say that they quit using drugs when the pain of using drugs was greater than the pain of not using them. One must have consequences in order for the pain of using to become greater.
Anon 8:16
Your argument is undermined by the reality that the perfectly legal addictions alcohol and gambling are common motivations for crime. it is also undermined by the evident phenomenon of the wealthy self-destructing in all sorts of behavior–often illegal–due to cocaine addiction. People for whom price is not the issue.
I personally watched a medical clinic nearly ruined, with a profound impact on the career of several physicians due to a medical director out of control with an addiction. The destruction was a result of his aberant behavior and decision making–not the fact that it was illegal. It was the fact that it was illegal that finally brought the process to a halt to the benefit of all affected.
I am against many aspects of the “war on drugs”. I don’t think that I should lose my freedoms because of it. If the lose of my civil liberties is the price to pay for saving people from their addictions, then it is too high of a price as far as I am concerned. Freedom once lost is usually not regained for generations. But cocaine will ruin lives legal or not.
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