Drug Abuse: Stopping

Drug abuse benefits no one. Drug abuse wastes the time of all people. If drugs did not waste time and lives, drugs would not be a problem. Plain and simple.

Ending drug abuse by eradicating drugs and druggies is a further waste of time. The illegality of drugs merely fills the prisons with abusers and users. The illegality of drugs metastisizes a criminal hierarchy with political acquiescence because of the vast sums of money

• Police Corruption: Too many big city or small town stories to list, e.g., Serpico.
• Military: Central, South, and North America's military involvement--Noriego, Mexico and Iran-Contra.
• Pardon's: Drug kingpins pardoned by Clinton.

Society has never formulated laws against behavior that did not cost society time/money. Only when an individual's behavior becomes a problem that costs others do the others demand an end to asocial behavior. Society does not care about the person who drinks a beer after work or get drunks on a non-work night. Society does care about the person whose private and public responsibilities are lessened by alcohol abuse. Likewise with drugs. Drugs were not outlawed and scheduled until society found a cost to society.

The focus of ending drug abuse should be ending the waste of time. Drug abuse would be less if the problems in people's lives were fewer. This is a general goal of better democracy and capitalism. Drug abuse would be less if people could relate to how they have gone from drug use to drug abuse. A supporter of better democracy and capitalism grounded in the morality of time does not care what individuals do as long as they do not take the time of others.

To expect people to be 24/7 problem-solvers is a prescription for Hitler's, Stalin's and Mao's. Solving problems is not always fun. At times the demand to be a problem-solver is stressful and problem-solvers have a right to blow off steam. Whether reducing stress from nicotine, alcohol, carbos, pot or any other substance, one has a right as long as one does wrong others' time. In general, people should be able to apply for license to use drugs as they are licensed to drive automobiles as long as they are wreckless in their driving. Abuse of any substance--wasting the time of others--should result in revoking the license with incarceration for those who inhale without a license.

Reducing stress overall will reduce the abuse of all substance. Helping people to help themselves in understanding when they have gone from use to abuse of all substances will reduce abuse. Toward this goal, on-line spelling bees are provided for young people to share their wisdom.