You're absolutely right, Peter. NO ONE should ever be jailed for using a drug or having it in their personal possession for their own private use (or that of their friends)...they should get medical assistance, if they desire it. If not, leave them alone. It's the people who sell the drugs as a business...the dealers and the big drug barons...who should be jailed.

The police are wasting a colossal amount of their time and energy harassing ordinary drug users, who are people with an illness. Besides, it is my assertion that 99.9% of all people in modern society ARE habitual drug users!!! Where do they get off being so self-righteous about someone else's drug habit! And it's not too surprising this has happened, given the combination of stress and constant marketing of addictive substances that is bearing down on people these days.

If a drug user commits a crime, then I would prosecute him for that crime...but not for the fact that he is a drug user. (We're all drug users.) Example: I will prosecute someone for drunk driving or violence committed while drunk...but I will not prosecute him for drinking, which is something he has the right to do on his own free time if he wants to. The same principle applies to all other drugs, most of which are quite a bit less dangerous than alcohol.

- LH