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chasfm11 wrote:

RoyGBiv wrote: If the threat of jail goes away, and we reallocate a portion of those enforcement expenditures towards more proactive intervention, treatment and remediation, we have a better chance of breaking that cycle of destruction.

I agree that the war on drugs has been lost for a long time. CO and WA will be good test cases for whether the removal of legal threat does anything to help with the destruction cycle. I'm very doubtful.

chasfm11 wrote:I'm not sure that legalizing drugs solves anything but what we are doing isn't working either. Other than the crimes that they commit to feed their drug habits, I'd prefer have people live with the consequences of their own decisions. But, unfortunately, parents who abuse drugs are a different story.

http://www.childhelp.org/pages/statisti ... substances

As many as two-thirds of the people in treatment for drug abuse reported being abused or neglected as children

There are people who abuse their kids and are alcohol or drug abusers, too. But many/most are. Battered children are more likely to batter their children. Abused children because of drugs and alcohol appear to turn into substance abusers themselves too often.

I don't think that there is an easy answer.

Oldgringo wrote:

urnoodle wrote:I'm ok with legalizing marijuana. To set the record straight upfront, I'm not a pot smoker nor have I ever been. Recreational use is not the reason I support legalizing it. I'm a cancer survivor. I spent thousands of dollars for prescription medications to assist in treating the side effects of chemo and radiation. Health insurance will only cover a specified number of doses of the prescription meds. Costs to the patient can be nearly $1000/month depending on how frequent the patient needs to take it. I was receiving treatment on and off for 2 years. Many times I couldn't afford the prescription and my quality of life was poor. I had friends who were being treated for cancer too. Some moved to states that legalized marijuana for medical use. Others used illegally. Their costs were substantially lower than mine and the marijuana was more effective in counteracting the side effects than the prescription. I will not break the law so therefore I would not use it unless it was legalized. Issues abound when legalizing it only for medical use. Anyone can find a doctor to prescribe it for an real or imagined ailment, therefore legalize it. Let the state gain taxes from its use. I don't forsee Texas ever legalizing it for any type of use. Thank God that I'm in remission now and I don't need it but for those still suffering it would be a viable resource for a better quality of life.

I've never smoked pot but I would break the law to save my loved one and/or myself. The so-called war on drugs is an expensive joke, an expensive bad joke.