http://www.seattlechannel.org/videos/video.asp?ID=3060910
In this show I am honored to have an appearance on the same side of the issue with King County Prosecutor Dan Satterberg. This is an intelligent discussion regarding the '09 legislative effort to effectively legalize marijuana possession. If you ever wondered where the left is going with this...check out former Seattle Police Chief Norm Stamper's comments. He is further left than the ACLU whose representative actually backtracks to admit that marijuana IS a gateway drug.
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"Oh boy." So where was treatment in this discussion? I can tell you that success triples when a person is blocked in with a host of stakeholders demanding accountability of an addict. Where does Kline get that Marijuana is not addictive? Has he worked in inpatient youth treatment where the kids are breaking out in a sweat and suffering horrible mood fluctuations and hormonal difficulties? Has he seen the dangerous job that treatment providers have in that arena where the youth become dangerous while detoxing? Today's weed is not anything close to 70s pot. People get much higher, the plants often include chemicals, and crime IS one of the effects. Treatment, which unfortunately is more often than not cookie cutter, usually succeeds because if they can assist an individual stay clean long enough for the light bulb to come on, it often goes past harm reduction to actual recovery. I have personally known some really good counselors and then I have met some who did drugs, drank, and then ran groups and one on one counseling sessions. What I am about to say may go against the grain, but it is the truth. Treatment focuses on education because you can "load up" more people within a room legally and is profitable. But the bottom line is, because these folks are detoxing, they can't remember a darn thing they are taught. In my opinion, treatment doesn't even start until after the first three months when their heads are clear enough to take in and remember info. It takes accountability and "time" hanging over people's heads to keep them going long enough to be able to process recovery in a meaningful way. Drug court works because they see the judge weekly while going to treatment and meetings plus contacting probation. The accountability is always in their face along with considerable prison time. They know that if they screw up they go to jail, period.
The very idea of cocaine and methamphetamine being legalized makes me shudder. What are these yahoos thinking? Do they all not understand addiction? I wouldn't want to be an officer for anything in the world because they work hard and risk their lives just to have the courts let these folks back out the door committing crimes. But legalize it? This is getting long so I am going to shut up.
Jan Smith
im having a hard time imagining that marijuana could be legal...but on the other side should we continue to take the hard line approach and keep locking these people up? some people choose to do drugs for fun while most are addicted...dealers should continue to be punished to the fullest extent of the law but small time drug users i think need to be looked at in a different way from a treatment perspective...im thinking forced long term treatment as an alternative to locking them up for long periods of time...i think what we all forget sometimes is that your typical drug user is still a human being and just as soon could be any ones mother father sister brother daughter son or friend...he could be your pastor your co worker etc......we seem to be okay with the local drunks at the bar but we turn a blind eye to the suffering that happens as a community when just one person is addicted....our only solution is to lock these people up costing tax payers more money in the long run since prison doesn't necessarily cure a drug addiction with the idea these people aren't worth saving that they choose to be the way they are..so in a nut shell society shouldn't condone drug use but neither should we tolerate giving up on people by throwing them in prison..
I'm sorry, why does the legislature feel the need to decide these things for themselves? I know we elect you to decide for us. But in the case of gay marriage "domestic partnerships", and the legalization of drugs, I believe that the voters should decide.
This is not the task of the legislators, this is the task of the people.
Our former chief of police Norm Stamper is acting head of an organization called L.E.A.P.Law enforcement against prohibition.
Being ADDICTED to drugs is a different issue than marijuana legalized . THE substance most people are addicted to is alcohol. This is legal, addicting and a gateway drug. It's not the substance, it's the person. I say let's focus on putting violent and sexual offenders away and leave the end-users to determine when and how they will get treatment. I am so sick of when people say 'have you ever seen someone..*blank*. I've been a treatment counselor for 15 years but I also know people who drink socially and have fun. Should we lock up all the drunks because you can die of addiction to alcohol???
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