[Jeff Higgins]

Jim, I am not advocating acceptance. I'm advocating treatment in the place of punishment. Would going to jail, rather than treament, have been a better long-term solution for your M-16 toting friend and his family? I seriously doubt it. That's the gist of my argument; treat it as the physcological problem it is (abuse anyway) and not as a crime. Repair lives through treatment rather than destroy them through punishment.

We have been on the punishment path for far too long with no indication whatsoever it is reducing drug use, or even keeping it in check for that matter. We spend billions every year with no end in sight. We ruin lives with our laws that were not already ruined with the drugs. It's time to stop. Truly, only a fool keeps trying the same thing over and over, expecting a different result. Our government, and its drug laws, and the element of society that supports both, are those fools. It's not working. That much is obvious. It's long past time to try a different approach.