What I'd like to see is some incentive for people not to abuse drugs of any kind, some creative incentive. I'll throw some wild ass sheit out as an example, possibly a poor example, but you get the idea.
Real punishment for repeat offenders that damage society. Actual restitution, not $ paid to the govt but work and effort paid back to society, preferably in drug use prevention and reparations. Scrubbing graffiti off of walls, lecturing kids in school about the damage drugs do in society, working at charities like community gardens.
Work programs that hurt, busting rocks into gravel with a sledgehammer. Cutting firewood for elderly people. Building trails. Cleaning ditches, developing wetlands projects, reforestation after a fire, maintaining public buildings and grounds to save taxpayer dollars.
Education on the effects of drug use. Classroom time. Photos of carnage caused by drug use. Hundreds of hours of it so it sinks in.
Public caning for chronic offenders. Pain is a fantastic teacher.
Going the other way, how about incentives to stay clean? What if there were advantages for testing negative for chronic abusers?
Tax incentives, education incentives, home loan incentives, car loan incentives, I don't know, use your imagination. If drug abusers are going to cost us X amount of dollars for their abuse of chemicals, invest a portion of that into cleaning them up. Give them a reason to stay clean, as many reasons as imagination can come up with. Doesn't have to be money. Lots of ways to reward people for positive behavior.
but instead, with leadership like O gave us, he condoned bad behavior and encouraged unhealthy lifestyles. it starts from the top. We need anti-drug leadership and unyielding standards for society that take us BACK, yes back, to a time when people acknowledged some behaviors are harmful and shouldn't be encouraged.
What we've got in America is a society that has grown accustomed to destructive behavior with not enough negative consequences for it. Whether it's crime or drug use, there should be strong incentive to maintain a healthy lifestyle and make good choices.
What's sad is it's gone on so long now we find ourselves in a position where the people no longer police themselves and make healthy choices, but the govt needs to step in and say, "ENOUGH!".
_______________________________________________________ An 8 dollar driveway boy living in a T-111 shack
