[SatinDoll]

My sister and her man have been given lots of breaks from me, other family members, state governments, and the federal government. They have recieved sympathy, help, and a great deal of financial support, all to no avail. Now SSI, in other words the taxpayer, is paying their way in the continued abuse of illegal pharmacology.

This nation is deeply in debt. The drug abuse epidemic, and its attendent crimes, will end up destroying our nation unless we get tough about the penalties.

At some point we have to say - NO MORE!

[mvpel]

They can't even keep illegal drugs out of prisons. Are you seriously prepared to convert our entire nation into the equivalent of a super-max prison, a radically intrusive police state, in order to "end drug abuse?"

You seem to be willing to destroy our nation in order to save it. Ask your spin doctor if Incarcerex is right for you.

[Ken H]

If harsh penalties were the answer, why do Iran and Singapore have such a severe heroin problem vs the Netherlands?

"Iran has executed more than 10,000 narcotics traffickers in the last decade;"
--www.payvand.com/news/04/mar/1012.htm

"Iran has the highest proportion of heroin addicts in the world and a growing Aids problem."
--news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/this_world/3791889.stm

"The GOS [Government of Singapore] nonetheless is concerned about the increase in addiction rates and recidivism among drug offenders who have undergone treatment. There are currently about 9,000 addicts undergoing rehabilitation in Singapore treatment centers, the same number as in 1995."
--http://www.state.gov/www/global/narcotics_law/1996_narc_report/index.html

The Netherlands has extensive demand reduction programs and low­threshold medical services for addicts, who are also offered drug rehabilitation programs. Authorities believe such programs reach about 70­80 percent of the country's 25,000 hard­drug users. [my note: in a total population of 15.1 million]
--http://www.state.gov/www/global/narcotics_law/1996_narc_report/index.html

_______________________________________

Using a population of 3 million for Singapore in 1996, that works out to an addiction rate of about 0.30%.

Using the State Dept. figures for the Netherlands, and a population of 15.1 million, the addiction rate was about 0.17%.

Also note that the Singapore figure only takes into account the addicts under treatment, whereas the figure for Holland is the estimate of the total number of addicts.

[Boner1]

this should help your sister
http://www.nbc11.com/health/14639511/detail.html?rss=bay&psp=news

Its more good news you”ll have to debate