Drugs and family, the truth everyone already knows

[Anonymous]

The drugs that should be illegal are completely illegal, and that's a good thing. Even still though, the war on drugs is slowly fizzing away, while people are pushing for lesser sentences for non violent criminals with drug charges.

Dont get me wrong, a young adult caught with a little pot really doesn't need more than a slap on the wrist, especially the first time. But, when you have a repeat offender consistently being caught with harder drugs or intent to sell, they need maximum penalties, possibly more harsh than what is already set in place.

The fight against this is that they are hurting no one but themselves and those that want to be apart of it as well. This is a very, very dangerous philosophy.

What starts as a little escape every now and then or something to help you loosen up and have more fun turns into a deadly illness. People who suffer from addiction put the addiction first- above work, above rent and bills, above their friends, their families, even their children. They become so self destructive and so many miss the point that they are destroying the lives of everyone around them. As the child of an addict, I've seen first hand what it can do.

One of my earliest memories is walking in on my mother with a rubber band tied around her arm and a needle in her hand. Know what she said? "Wanna play doctor?" And that's is the first time I injected haroin into the arm of an addict. I could barely crawl.

And then when she became a prostitute, it just got better from there. She didn't do it for the money, only drugs. She only accepted drugs as payment. We were homeless and I was her meal ticket. There were a select few who were willing to give a little extra (clothes, food, shelter) if she left her only daughter alone with them for an hour or so.

All the therapy in the world couldn't erase those memories from my head.

All the while my father had no clue of her condition. That is until one day he got a call from dhs, saying his ex wife had been arrested and that his daughter was found in a motel room. From what the cops put together, I had been left there for about 2 days. From that day on my father and his wife raised me. Over the span of the next 20 years or so my parents never lied about what my mother was. I always knew that she rarely came around because drugs were more important. I knew when she was in prison, I know that my favorite boyfriend she had quite coming around because he was really part of the cartel and got arrested. I knew that after that her boyfriends were really pimps. I knew all of it

I saw first hand why to say no to drugs. I believe whole heartedly in long sentences to anyone caught selling anything harder than weed. It is by the grace of God that I am alive today. But how many other children weren't so lucky? How many other children weren't put up for adoption or had another family member who could take them in and separate them from this horrible lifestyle?

Everyday I hear people opposing long sentences for non violent drug offenders but I believe there needs to be an example made. People don't realize when they start doing drugs that everything and everyone they value will come last in their lives once the addiction sets in, but what they will realize is that maybe it's not worth it to ever start, because prison just doesn't sound like fun.

[REALisRARE]

The fact that you came from that environment and can look back and say "hey, these things were wrong, and we need to fix them. Harsher penalties for hard drugs" speaks volumes about the strong person that you are. Especially with you being so young during those times when your personality is forming and you're still learning right from wrong. So many children never break that cycle and become there parents. You sound like an incredible person with an awesome message to spread. Great myTake and I completely agree with you! I think a large part of the issue is that our system is already so overun with criminals, but again that falls back to there being basically no punishment for anything so people don't mind risking a slap on the wrist. Also rehabs are so full and often times these people are turned away. Or they end up mental health and that's another issue entirely. Anyway, I digress. Awesome myTake!

[myTake Owner]

Thank you. I definitely feel like everything I've been through has done marvels shaping my life. I'm so thankful for every step because of the person I turned out to be today. Re reading this today, I realized that I rushed through it a little and didn't catch some minor grammatical errors, so thank you for actually reading it in its entirity

[REALisRARE]

That's awesome and you're very welcome

[Blueeyes81]

I don't see longer sentences doing any good. What will help is mandatory treatment. You want to lock them up for a year, then put them in treatment for a year. You have to try and cure the problem. Otherwise you'll just get repeat offenders.

[kittykatg]

While I sympathize with you. What addicts need is treatment not more excuses to continue using by sending them to a shit hole to make the realize how much shittier everything feels when they're not fucked up.

[myTake Owner]

This isn't about helping current addicts. It's about preventing them. Harsher punishments means being less likely to try it

[kittykatg]

The how come drug use has gone down in places that have decriminalized drug use? By your logic it should go up and not down.

[KawaiiPie67]

I feel really happy for you that your family rescued you. I don't know what else to say because I don't know how to make people stop using hard drugs either.

[26ukdude]

Are they addicts or are they criminals? How can you send someone to prison for having a disease?

[orphan]

every drug can be legally prescribed.

every drug.