War on drugs is complete failure
Thank you, Lee Kennedy, for the recent (March 1) letter concerning drugs and imprisonment. The war on drugs has cost taxpayers billions of dollars across the years and has been a complete failure. It really has been a war on the American citizen.
I do not condone drug use in any form, including the use of alcohol, over-the-counter drugs or the many deadly drugs freely prescribed by doctors for the slightest ills, but I do believe strongly in a person’s right to do what he or she wants with their own body. The personal consequences of alcoholism and drug addiction are severe enough without a mandatory prison sentence for a non-violent crime.
I am outraged when I hear of persons convicted of rape, murder, robbery, assault and battery, home invasion, child abuse and neglect and on and on going free on probation when our prisons are flooded with non-violent offenders.
Drug addiction is a medical, spiritual and psychological problem. The addict must be educated and offered a real solution. At this point, it becomes the addict’s responsibility to live by the solution or die by the drug.
The prison system as it is does very little to educate and rehabilitate. These people will then re-enter the community with confusion, resentment and hopelessness. Most will return to old behaviors.
I believe prohibition would only create more crime. I believe we need more community involvement and understanding. These laws enable us to avoid the real problem. Laws treat the symptom while the cause remains buried.
ó Reggie Moysan
Spencer
Stimulus questions
Will the stimulus package be a good or bad idea? I have my doubts and some questions.
How can President Obama expect all those new jobs to be created while layoffs and plant closings continue to occur?
Who will benefit from the tax breaks? The rich upper-class taxpayers as usual. Why should physically able-bodied people who do not work or pay taxes receive a tax break? Where will their part of the tax break come from? I think the majority of us already know that answer. The poor, lower-class taxpayers will have to provide that part of the tax break.
Are the farmers going to benefit any from the stimulus package? They should, since they help supply food for people to eat. Every time a farmer has to go out of business, it puts another strain on the economy. No farms plus no farmers equals no food.
What about that huge amount of money to be used for building roads? Shouldn’t some of that money be used to improve the condition of second roads ó other than to dab a little tar into the potholes? Most secondary roads, especially in North Carolina, need complete repaving. Some of the secondary roads are so rough and full of potholes they almost shake a person’s false teeth right out of their mouth.
I think it will take a lot more than a stimulus package to improve the economy.
ó Ellie Mae Lambert
Salisbury