Former Congressman Patrick Kennedy (the guy who drunkenly drove into a barricade in Washington, D.C. in 2006 but didn't get in any trouble because he was a Congressman and has an important, powerful family) was on Real Time with Bill Maher last week, and he is pushing for a new drug policy. Let me see if I can crystallize (like methamphetamine) his policy for you as simply as possible. Hmm... Oh, wait, I know; his proposed drug policy is essentially this: "I can't handle them, so nobody else should be allowed to have any." I believe this encapsulates it quite nicely (kind of like a capsule does with drugs, man).
But, despite my giving Rep. Kennedy a hard time for this rather usual position for addicts who clean up their acts (not everybody is an addict you know, and many of these drugs have practical uses, one of which for some people might be stress relief, which could possibly save lives from heart attacks and perhaps also spree shootings from time-to-time), I must say I agree wholeheartedly with his policy of making drug offenses not criminal offenses requiring a jail sentence, but rather, a problem for which someone needs help.
I'm glad he's speaking up about the need for treatment rather than prison for drug offenses, but really, shouldn't drugs just be legal, this being purportedly a free country, and have the treatment programs available for those who develop problems and want or need help, or else get into legal trouble as a result, such as you and I would for DWI, but which Rep. Kennedy did not because people in power in Washington do not ever have to face the music for the things they do wrong, because they have the power to create a double-standard for themselves. (Oh, whoops, there I go complaining about government corruption again...)
