Yes, as the father of a young man who has spent most of the last seven years in prison, I can say we do not only have a meth problem, but an overall drug epidemic.
On Jan. 19, 2011, a letter was published from a gentleman stating we did not. It's just a bunch of good folks making bad choices. And since it didn't bother him, we should leave them be. But it must affect him, or the troubles he's having purchasing PSE's wouldn't have been mentioned.
My son, along with many others, turned to theft to support his habit. I'm sure that bothered the victims and their rights. What about the individual liberties of the young children they sell this stuff to? The ones too young to know better. As a collective society, are we not responsible to protect them?
Or when these misunderstood people make a run to Chicago to trade meth for heroin, should we turn a blind eye to them, chuckle, and say, "Those silly people, making bad choices again."?
Your letter made no sense at all to me. Your opinion is that the government and our country's judicial system is too harsh on these poor misguided souls. My opinion is just the opposite. We are not harsh enough. Bad choices deserve bad consequences.
Let me tell you how bad it is now. A person in prison has only one cell mate, unless they can't get along with others then they get a private room. They also have cable T.V., central air, heat, three meals a day and a job, if they feel like it, that they get paid for (not to make restitution to victims) to buy treats from commissary. The best part is they can go to college, which knocks a year off of their sentence for every AS degree they receive (which won't do them much good since most companies won't hire felons.) And it's all free of charge. Well, that is with the exception to all of us honest hard-working taxpayers. We pay the bill, plus get loans and go in debt so we and our children can go to college.
Since you don't have a solution just an opinion, I'll tell you mine.
Anyone incarcerated should have no perks, no T.V., no a.c., no nothing. They should have to earn keep. And work hard for it. Make them not ever want to come back. Any unused city, state or federal ground should be maintained, gardened and farmed by inmates. You don't work, you don't eat. All extra food should be donated to food pantries. Believe it or not, a lot of inmates would love the opportunity to work to pass the time. Some event want to give back to the community to make restitution. The money saved could be used to hire honest people to run the work farms. Hey, more jobs. This is probably too harsh for you, but it's just my opinion.
You don't want the government to interfere with the drug users and makers. Then who should? I applaud all of our police, sheriff's deputies and state troopers for all they do. Everyone they take off the street, is one less I have to worry about. The job they have can't be easy.
In closing, I hope your Philosophy of Liberty changes. If I have to go an extra step to purchase something that is used in the making of an illegal drug, I'll be more than happy to. As citizens we need to accept the responsibility of changing our communities, country and world even if it causes us a little discomfort.
