[JediGirl]

..

[JCEccles]

The two sides generally agree that...drug treatment should be considered...for nonviolent offenders who commit crimes to feed their addiction....There has also been disagreement over whether the the state Department of Corrections or community-based centers would provide drug treatment, what would constitute "failure" in treatment and how to deal with those who don't succeed,..

Are there any estimates on what these treatment programs might cost? How will they be funded? Are we talking about using state employees and creating new or larger state agencies to do the job?

What will happen to the people who fail the programs? Will they be allowed to file for disability payments from the state?

I believe it is smart to look at all sides of the problem.

[MrLeRoy]

drug treatment should be considered more often as an alternative to prison for nonviolent offenders who commit crimes to feed their addiction.

What about the non-addicted majority of drug users? They need no "treatment"---would they still go to jail, while some real criminals got no jail?

[philman_36]

"I don't think any of us who are looking for reform can say, 'Just give us anything,' " said John Dunne, a former Republican state senator who sponsored the Rockefeller Drug Laws and now opposes them.
If Dunne would've thought about it more before sponsoring them he wouldn't be in the situation he is in now of having to oppose them.
His "jerked" reaction is causing a kickback now.

[Illbay]

What the whack-jobs on the "pro-drugs" side of the argument do not understand and will NEVER understand, is that all this hullaballoo will ONLY take place during an election year, where they want to be SEEN THINKING about "drug reform" (whatever that is; I certainly have noticed no disposition on the part of Heroin to mend its ways), but then don't actually do anything.

That makes EVERYONE want to vote for 'em.

When they aren't worried about this, it won't even come onto the radar screens, because there is next-to-no political support for it.