I’d push for finding a way to make rehabilitation cheaper and more effective, rather than focusing on imprisonment/fines, with regards the more addictive drugs (I don’t think of myself as much of a family person, but my father is the only branch of his family not destroyed by drug abuse; even the one almost-rational one cannot find a stable place to stay that is not filled with crackheads, so she stays in trouble even though she has wanted out of it since the beginning. Long story in which I missed a perfect opportunity to save the day.). The trends that marijuana are currently following in the US seem to indicate that most people consider it relatively safe if used as prescribed (For the above reasons, my father’s branch of the family—which is basically the household I live in—has an overwhelmingly negative view on recreational drugs categorically, but my sister still helped with the petition to get medicinal marijuana on the ballot in our state). The above-mentioned addict did once manage to out instrumentally rational my dad while high (he’d spent a lot of time, effort and chemicals scrubbing what she discovered to be the shadow of a fan ornament. Hilarity ensued.); I have no idea what she had been using, but that and other evidence points toward pot (she was putting more effort than usual into staying out of trouble around that time, for parenthood-related reasons).
In this particular case, I suspect what got her jailtime was stealing someone’s wallet and using his checks/credits, which I’m quite certain (1.0-epsilon) was for drug money. The legal implications, here, are that any rehabilitation services would need to be applicable to crimes commonly influenced by addictive substances, if said substances can be reasonably considered a contributing factor. (I might have managed to get into my own place this time last year had a completely unrelated addict not ransacked the place while it was being repaired. He had just gotten out of prison, and now owes restitution that I have no expectation of ever getting. I also expect that the afore-mentioned cousin might have been able to reduce the need for repairs had she been staying there while I was at college, but crack/heroine-related conflicts prevented that. )
TL;DR: I think Marijuana’s doing pretty well in the US. Perhaps a more constructive and less punitive approach to reducing the harm from harder drugs would be worth pursuing? The cousin I mentioned strikes me as being capable enough to improve her socioeconomic status enormously if she could find a non-addict peer group. Beyond most of the rest of the family (who dabble in meth and pot but mostly just overdo cigarettes and alcohol to the point of serious health risk. Except my grandfather, whose health baffles doctors and is predicted to possibly reach 100. That would put him in the 2030s, though there’s this morbid family tradition where the patriarch hangs himself at some point past 80 on a whim. But I digress.).
What exactly are you saying?
“Yes, I’m mindkilled. I hold my political belief based on a few very emotional experiences instead of reading about broad statistics.”
The cousin I mentioned strikes me as being capable enough to improve her socioeconomic status enormously if she could find a non-addict peer group.
That might be true, but besides the point. What kind of government intervention would put her into a non-addict peer group?
I’d push for finding a way to make rehabilitation cheaper and more effective, rather than focusing on imprisonment/fines, with regards the more addictive drugs (I don’t think of myself as much of a family person, but my father is the only branch of his family not destroyed by drug abuse; even the one almost-rational one cannot find a stable place to stay that is not filled with crackheads, so she stays in trouble even though she has wanted out of it since the beginning. Long story in which I missed a perfect opportunity to save the day.). The trends that marijuana are currently following in the US seem to indicate that most people consider it relatively safe if used as prescribed (For the above reasons, my father’s branch of the family—which is basically the household I live in—has an overwhelmingly negative view on recreational drugs categorically, but my sister still helped with the petition to get medicinal marijuana on the ballot in our state). The above-mentioned addict did once manage to out instrumentally rational my dad while high (he’d spent a lot of time, effort and chemicals scrubbing what she discovered to be the shadow of a fan ornament. Hilarity ensued.); I have no idea what she had been using, but that and other evidence points toward pot (she was putting more effort than usual into staying out of trouble around that time, for parenthood-related reasons).
In this particular case, I suspect what got her jailtime was stealing someone’s wallet and using his checks/credits, which I’m quite certain (1.0-epsilon) was for drug money. The legal implications, here, are that any rehabilitation services would need to be applicable to crimes commonly influenced by addictive substances, if said substances can be reasonably considered a contributing factor. (I might have managed to get into my own place this time last year had a completely unrelated addict not ransacked the place while it was being repaired. He had just gotten out of prison, and now owes restitution that I have no expectation of ever getting. I also expect that the afore-mentioned cousin might have been able to reduce the need for repairs had she been staying there while I was at college, but crack/heroine-related conflicts prevented that. )
TL;DR: I think Marijuana’s doing pretty well in the US. Perhaps a more constructive and less punitive approach to reducing the harm from harder drugs would be worth pursuing? The cousin I mentioned strikes me as being capable enough to improve her socioeconomic status enormously if she could find a non-addict peer group. Beyond most of the rest of the family (who dabble in meth and pot but mostly just overdo cigarettes and alcohol to the point of serious health risk. Except my grandfather, whose health baffles doctors and is predicted to possibly reach 100. That would put him in the 2030s, though there’s this morbid family tradition where the patriarch hangs himself at some point past 80 on a whim. But I digress.).
What exactly are you saying? “Yes, I’m mindkilled. I hold my political belief based on a few very emotional experiences instead of reading about broad statistics.”
That might be true, but besides the point. What kind of government intervention would put her into a non-addict peer group?