I propose we stop our knee-jerk policy and try something different.
De-criminalize drugs and attack the real problem: addiction. Treatment does
work, if it'a available to those who want it, and we could treat every addict
in the country for a tenth of what we're spending on the WoD.

Unfortunately, treatment of drug and alcohol addiction is an abyssmal
failure, far surpassing the failure to stop the flow of drugs.

Not because of lack of money (although there *is* that), but because
it just doesn't work -- period. Take a look at the stats, and it's
absolutely appalling how few people succeed.

People who are addicted to drugs and alcohol are usually damaged in
other ways. I've never yet met a homeless person who wasn't either
mentally ill, addicted to drugs and/or alchol, or all three. My
sister has been in an out of treatment programs for 30 years -- to no
avail. And now, after years of abuse, she is so mentally screwed up
that she couldn't hold a job even if she were cold stone sober.

Multiply her times 10 million, and you see the magnitude of the
problem.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"