I pledge allegiance to the flag of the united States Of America and to the Republic for which it stand, One Nation, Under God with Liberty and Justice FOR ALL
Do you REALLY? It is difficult to pledge Allegiance to the flag because America is NOT united.
The politicians attacked Trump when he brought up the issue of drugs. It was like Trump was attempting to eliminate THEIR drug habit.
Possibly the WALL might not be the tool to stop the foreign countries who addict our children so our future of of a nation is put in jeopardy Who will our leaders be if we have a future generation of drug addicts?
Trump is an entrepreneur He is doing very well rehabilitating the economy. Can the WALL be a tool to put unemployed indigents who were denied EQUAL education a middle class opportunity to to build a wall and then rebuild highways, bridges and decaying inter cities and industrial areas so the homeless will not be homeless.?
In the i930's during the depression The government called it the 'WORK PROGRESS ADMINISTRATION WPA.
America can win the war on drugs. Drug dealers need customers. Albert Einstein allegedly defined "INSANITY" as doing the same thing over and over again, expecting different results. I was part of that insanity.
As a sheriff's Officer i put addicts in jail . It took the courts 2 years to give them "speedy Trials" and the judgeshad to let the nion violent addict back on the streets without rehabilitation. only to prey upon America who are fearful of being the victim of a drug addict looking for drug money.
America must vote those politicians who will not legislate a solution to drugs OUT OF OFFICE. America must contact their elected officias and DEMAND legislation where drug companies that addict Americans should be fined and the profits they made,billions of dollars, should be spent on rehabilitation. of addicts.

Get the addicts off the street so they can not kill and injure Americans when they attack Americans for drug money. money. Open and rehabilitate military basis that have been deactivated and put the addicts on those bases to be rehabilitated. Use the rehabilitated addicts to rehabilitate the flow of addicts that will be coming to these rehabilitation centers.

The deactivated military bases should be in remote areas (NOT IN MY BACK YARD OR YOUR BACK YARD so addicts will not have the desire to cross deserts to escape. They should have land to accommodate "three time losers" Addicts that are rehabilitated and released who would have to visit a outpatient centers where they will be tested weekly and be returned to addicts for life communities where they can not be free to
go back on the streets to prey on Americans. They will have jobs growing food or if they have vocational skills maintaining the rehabilitation centers.

Eventually, it may take ten years to capture the addicts and rehabilitate them, The foreign countries will not have Americans to addict because children will not want to say YES to the rehabilitation process.

America spends billions of dollars treating addicts like criminals. All they did was say YES TO DRUGS. After that their brains were fried and they did not have the ability so say NO! It is up to WE THE PEOPLE and the POLITICIANS to treat drugs like an epidemic that can be cured. rather than a crime.

Thank you.

"...capture the addicts and rehabilitate them."

?!

That does sound like the overbearing and commandeering portion of the co-dependence equation. But is it always or truly so? In this moment and over time: Of all addicts in this nation, how many are dealing with themselves and attempting healing? How many are still soaring and believing themselves invincible? How many peeps are directly and indirectly influenced by the conditions and behaviors of the referenced addicts? For how many addicts is piercing intervention needed, and for how many is a more gentle approach appropriate? And how many of the rest of the folks have even an inkling of what to do? How many do not know whether they are contributing to someone's addiction by acts of omission or commission? How many are willing or unwitting pawns in someone's addiction game? Of these, how many know when they and their addict are toxic and poisoning each other, and how many are oblivious and thus unable to change the relating styles?

There is no singular answer for all situations. There is no singular etiology for all addictions and addicts. There are many common factors. Info regarding them is widely available, worldwide.

The US border wall can help with reduction of the influx of illegal and addicting drugs into this country. It cannot replace basic addiction concepts or heal anyone from conditions which are directly or indirectly involved in addiction. The wall can assist most with reducing opportunities to start with some substances.. People do not start using the substances will not enter into addition to those substances. Even though each person is individually responsible for dealing with their own addiction, some addictions which frequently involve acting out and commandeering others (such as drug addicts who steal and maim in order to get to their drugs), require a cold, clinical look. What about the opioid addicts? (Some of these are genteel, and upper class, even. Being addicted is one thing. I knew a person who lived for decades with a prescription drug addiction. Their worst behavior was to doctor shop and obtain ever more prescriptions.) When the addiction drives the addict to commit crimes and harm known and unknown people in illegal ways, what recourse do the victims and potential victims have?

To improve the odds of having a healthier population in future, prevention should begin now. The wall is one of many ways to preclude some addictions which weaken individuals, families, and the larger society of the nation.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/27/2019 01:56PM by Shop-et-al.

Y'all will probably hate me, I am for much less government interference in everything, so I honestly feel we should just allow all drugs to be legal. It has worked in places like Portugal, you can google it. Anyway, please bash away.

No bashing from me. I will look into that ..

Bashing people, that's a lot of trouble to go to.

I'm with you on the limited government thing, but I don't know about full legalization of everything. I wonder who will support the addicts and their dependents.

You know who else's drug policies work? Singapore. The answer, if there is one, lies somewhere in between, but I don't know what it is.

@oteixeira wrote:

Y'all will probably hate me, I am for much less government interference in everything, so I honestly feel we should just allow all drugs to be legal. It has worked in places like Portugal, you can google it. Anyway, please bash away.

You might be a Libertarian...

@oteixeira wrote:

Y'all will probably hate me, I am for much less government interference in everything, so I honestly feel we should just allow all drugs to be legal. It has worked in places like Portugal, you can google it. Anyway, please bash away.

We are not Portugal and not set up for such problems, although Pot is legal here in CA, it scares me to death because it does change your brain, and cause's accidents plus more serious stuff....those that are on drugs, get it, doesn't need to be given to them...why not search for a good healthy solution for our citizens.

.... Almost daily we learn more about marijuana's addictive and dangerous characteristics. Today's teenagers' pot is far more potent than their parents' pot. The average amount of tetrahydrocannabinol, the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana, in seized samples in the U.S. has more than doubled since 1983. Antonio Maria Costa, Director of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), has warned, "Today, the harmful characteristics of cannabis are no longer that different from those of other plant-based drugs such as cocaine and heroin."

Evidence that cannabis use can cause serious mental illness is mounting. A study published in the Lancet "found a consistent increase in incidence of psychosis outcomes in people who had used cannabis." The study prompted the journal's editors to retract their 1995 statement that, "smoking of cannabis, even long term, is not harmful to health."

Drugs are not dangerous because they are illegal; they are illegal because they are dangerous. A child who reaches age 21 without smoking, misusing alcohol, or using illegal drugs is virtually certain to never do so. Today, most children don't use illicit drugs, but all of them, particularly the poorest, are vulnerable to misuse and addiction. Legalization and decriminalization—policies certain to increase illegal drug availability and use among our children—hardly qualify as public health approaches.

Appeared on BMJ.com on November 9, 2007

Well, as you all probably know, I am no expert. I would guess we could tax the sale of drugs and that tax would be for specific use of running the detox centers for those who wish to get help. Of course, there would have to be a way to guarantee the politicians don't steal that money and use it elsewhere, and time has show we can't trust any of them, no matter who they claim to be affiliated with. So yea....I am open to a lot of ideas, but honestly, who knows what will work.

As to drugs causing issues, so does Alcohol, but that is legal, we just have a system to test for it and punish the abusers who do stupid things (driving and boating while intoxicated come to mind). As to the levels of potency, keep in mind that if you legalize the drugs, then the ATF can set standards of what is acceptable (if there is a level that does major damage). And yes, more government involvement pains me, but I am just throwing out ideas. Of course, people who want to abuse will find a way, legal or illegal, so we wont be stopping them anytime soon.

And yes, if you must know I do align as a Libertarian.

So, I read some articles about Portugal's approach. It is sensible and multi-factorial.

I do not know what similarities or differences there are between Portugal and the US and how those factors would be involved if the US switched from criminalization treatment only. But one article suggested that in the US, it is important to limit the access to drugs. Even if some people manage to crash through all legal and social blockades and figure out how to get their drugs of choice, many others will not. Those are the ones who might be able to remain or become clean and sober and participate fully in life.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/28/2019 08:02PM by Shop-et-al.

Me too.

@oteixeira wrote:

And yes, if you must know I do align as a Libertarian.

@Shop-et-al wrote:

So, I read some articles about Portugal's approach. It is sensible and multi-factorial.

I do not know what similarities or differences there are between Portugal and the US and how those factors would be involved if the US switched from criminalization treatment only. But one article suggested that in the US, it is important to limit the access to drugs. Even if some people manage to crash through all legal and social blockades and figure out how to get their drugs of choice, many others will not. Those are the ones who might be able to remain or become clean and sober and participate fully in life.

Whenever I see something like "It is important to limit" in an article I ask why? Why is it important? Does it stop people who want to abuse drugs from abusing them? Do we have no problems with opioids in this country because we limit people? Do we have rehabs that are half empty because addicts get clean simply because they can't get their fix?

As for the differences, one big one is that Portugal has universal health coverage, so that may factor into how you see this. But, keep in mind they have seen a sharp decline in both drug use as well as AIDS from dirty needles, which has nothing to do with the health care provided.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/28/2019 11:09PM by oteixeira.

No access, no use. No use, no misuse or abuse. And, no addiction. (Addiction is a booger.) No addiction, no need for the relevant medical care.

@Shop-et-al wrote:

No access, no use. No use, no misuse or abuse. And, no addiction. (Addiction is a booger.) No addiction, no need for the relevant medical care.

While this on the face of it is true, tell me this. Do drugs being illegal today stop people from accessing them? How about guns in cities with strict gun laws? How about alcohol during prohibition? The problem is not limiting access with stricter laws, that never works. The problem is changing perception and helping people who want help to get better. The other people, well, I pray that they come to a point that they ask for help before something bad happens to them.

Your view is speculation, what works in another country doesn't mean it will work here. I have no answers, only questions, and addiction is real, those addicted will find drugs, everything is available on our computer, buying from Mexico through computer is happening, no need to hand it out......teaching kids to avoid and the problems attached to doing pot and other drugs should be learned in school before they get hooked....just a thought.

@Irene_L.A. wrote:

Your view is speculation, what works in another country doesn't mean it will work here. I have no answers, only questions, and addiction is real, those addicted will find drugs, everything is available on our computer, buying from Mexico through computer is happening, no need to hand it out......teaching kids to avoid and the problems attached to doing pot and other drugs should be learned in school before they get hooked....just a thought.

I was taught through the 70s-80s that drugs were bad and would ruin our lives. The school systems already do this, it's not helping...

I wasn't taught that in the 60's and "Haight District" in San Francisco was the beginning of the hippie movement and drugs, mostly pot, yet nothing was mentioned. My daughter went to an amazing school and nothing was taught, this was in the early 90's...you were lucky, it doesn't help all, but it won't hurt. Many factors go into why some do and some don't...your kids friends have a big influence, and with all Mothers working, it is a different world, yet it has been a society problem for the longest time. Many parents today are enablers and afraid to give tough love, keeping kids busy with outside activities, whether music, art, sports makes a big difference. Remember the old saying, "Nothing good happens after midnight".

"your kids friends have a big influence"

Irene, you sure got that one right.

So we can limit access by preventing the drugs from entering this country and keep ourselves and our kids occupied with other activities that might keep everyone out of specific drug proximity.

If each successive generation yields more and more addicts... well, you do the math...

Why are there more and more addicts despite relevant services?

Prevention now is the only way to ensure at least one non-addict in the future...

This was kind of an interesting program: [www.politico.com] -- incarcerates people for drug crimes and then rehabilitates them. Not sure how effective it would be on a larger scale than Rhode Island, but it might be worth trying.

Note that it's from Politico, so includes the obligatory anti-Trump statements, but the program itself seems interesting. It's showing a sharp decrease in recidivism, which saves taxpayer money and reduces crime. It does, however, require users to want to change.

Why isn't this thread called the "Trump Love-in?"

'Cos. 'Cos now there is a 'Straight Arm Club' and... and... the bad jokes are overwhelming. They are so bad, they're twisting my arm! And, someone cracked a joke that they had flashed back to the drug days and... well...

@heartlandcanuck wrote:

Why isn't this thread called the "Trump Love-in?"

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/02/2019 05:03PM by Shop-et-al.

Shop-et-al,,there are more addicts because there are more drugs and it's easier to get them....I have a friend whose daughter recently committed suicide, she was not on drugs, however, poison was accessible to her through the internet and bought from Mexico...isn't it time to "try" and put a stop to this....if one life is saved, it's working.