Sorcha:
I can't say anything about the loss of a good friend, other than the pain gets more bareable after a while, though you always miss the person. In the passage of time, it becomes more possible to put the person's life in perspective, but there is always a place where you miss that person.
Spaw... I know you always appreciate a bit of humor, in fact the what to do can take a book just to outline. It does begin with responcibility, but responcility of the government to provide a meduim for doing what society is meant to do, provide a socialised community, a caring community where we don't talk about rationing health care to the poor and elderly becasue it costs too much, while doctors, drug companies and insurence companys profits are not rationed. Bill Bragg once called socialism the politic of compasion. Compasion and responcibilty are codependant concepts. Until we have a constitutional guarentee of our right to work and full employment, until we stop exporting American production, until we have a party that puts the people of this country equally first, and the minority who control the ecconomy get there share of political representation, we are going to be in the hold of the prblems which make it seem a necessity to use a criminal "justice" system to treat a health crises like drug use (the most common reason for jailing Americans). How bout, as a start, American production jobs, instead of more jails, and put the HUGE expence of jailing and trials into medical help to end drug addiction. PS Note that the majority of drug users and sellers in jail are of the race and class that make up the minority of drug sellers and users.
Gotta run, its late
All the best,
Larry