Remarks by President Bush in Signing Drug-Free Communities Act Reauthorization Bill

"Treatment" is also a means for conditioning BUT ALSO has the additional perk of SUSTAINING the addicts.

Treatment programs that sustain the addiction, and not eliminate it, are useless, as we see today. (right, Mr. Robert Downey, Jr. ?)

That's important, you see, because drugs are not a case of Demand driving Supply but Supply driving Demand.

I disagree. Some people would smell their socks all day if they thought it would get them high. Little children twirl themselves in circles to experience disorientation and euphoria. It's human nature.

Without supply ... no one gets hooked with a free sample. Without supply ... no point in killing or stealing to get some cash. Without supply ... no SUSTAINABLE demand. Folks who end up cold-turkey in dry season sometimes wise up such they never go back to their habit.

Even if you wiped out every drug currently on the planet, new, more powerful, and more dangerous drugs would take their place. Humans love to get intoxicated; it's our nature. We also love sex...notice how many of the website innovations in graphical / photo quality and performance were driven by porn sites. Also, they're one of the few money making enterprises on the web. We can't help it.

If Bush were serious about this so-called "Drug War" he'd EXECUTE anyone caught bringing Red Cocaine or Red Heroin into this nation ... including the wives of Drug War Colonels heading back with a kilo-sized souvenir from Colombia.

Yes, that would be the only way to seriously curtail drug use via enforcement. But it would not stop the problem altogether. And the people would never support such a policy. (I hope)

They're not serious ... why? Drug cash floats our banks, corrupts our politicians and funds the terror on which we've managed to declare YET ANOTHER War on a Noun whose net effect is a war against US.

No arguement here, except for the War on Terror being a war on us. When this drug nonsense first started, many rational people predicted, no, guaranteed, that what you stated would happen. They were right.

And that's what I think...

We've got a new war, and I want you to know your government is doing everything we can to defeat those who hate freedom.

Really? I think not. I think your whole speech here proves that you yourself hate freedom, you socialist robot.

If you love freedom so much, why do you watch as people who take marijuana to relieve the symptoms of their illnesses have their lives destroyed by the freedom-hating forces across America?

Why do you sign legislation that strips your lower-class brethren of their freedom?

Why do you lie to our facces and claim that there has ever been a successful drug interdiction program?

Freedom hater.

Well, you were talking about addiction. Cigs are the gateway. Most Americans first experience with licit drugs is with cigs, because most Americans are underaged when they use them. This isn't conjecture. It's fact. As for cigs causing bad behavior, I would simply cite the millions of butts littered across our streets and sidewalks, and the multitudes of workers who spend a portion of their day standing idle in the doorway puffing away. I agree it's a health issue, and I am not saying people shouldn't have a right to smoke, but that right is no more sacred or protected in my book than a theoretical right to smoke pot or crack. Different degrees, same issues. And you simply can't talk about addiction and ignore cigarettes. Just my opinion.

--ex smoker, going on four years.

Some very valid points, especially the cigarette butts all over the place issue. As the for the "gateway" effect, you're right there too. Many people, and teens in particular, get involved with some really low-down people because of cigs, drugs, and alcohol. Once they start down the path of illegality, many find themselves doing many more illegal things (not just drugs), since they've already put themselves on the "wrong side of the law". And, they start getting involved in a "culture" that will lead them down the wrong path

It's a danger in society that has no easy answer, but needs to be addressed rationally by better people than me, as soon as possible for the good of the country.

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