A&E: Intervention- 'Episode 80: Angelina'

Source:Intervention Directory- Angelina Pivarnickm being profiled on Intervention.

"When Angelina was eight, her family grew apart over an argument about money. Her mother turned to prescription drugs and cocaine to deal with the stress. After graduating from high school, Angelina became her younger brother’s legal guardian, but she was overwhelmed by the job of taking care of her brother and addict mother. Angelina became addicted to OxyContin and spent her trust fund of $350,000 on the drug. Then Angelina turned to cheaper drugs and heroin to support her habit." 

From A&E 

Drug addicts who are just drug addicts and not professional criminals who literally hurt society to survive in life, aren't criminals in the sense that they represent a threat to society, other then that some of them steal in order to support their drug habit, whether its heroin, cocaine, meth. (To use as examples) 

All drug addicts want to do is to feed their habit to continue to use those drugs and if that means stealing money or items to sell, then they'll do that. It's not really drug addicts that we as a society should be concern with, but drug dealers who sell cocaine, heroin and meth, as well as of course murderers, terrorists, rapists, batterers, etc, people who represent a major threat to society. 

But if you get drug addicts off of their addiction, then they can move on with their lives and be productive citizens, even help other drug addicts get off of their addiction. Prisons are for people who are a threat to society that need to be in prison so they can't hurt other people These people are criminals and in a lot of cases are professional criminals who need to be in prison. And in a lot of cases when they get sent to prison, it's not their first experience as an inmate. 

But drug addicts are patients perhaps even mental patients, people with a mental condition who can't get satisfied doing the thing that they are addicted to. And in drug addicts case keep using those drugs until it really messes them up or worse. But if you give them help with their addiction and get them off of the drug or drugs they are addicted to, then they can be fine healthy people again living productive lives but not while they are addicted to drugs. 

Prisons are meant for criminals, not patients. Drug rehab is meant for drug addicts where they can get the help that they need to get off of their addiction. And one of the reasons why we've spent trillions of dollars on the so-called War on Drugs, is because we keep locking up drug addicts. Letting them out and then locking them up again for the same crime, repeating the cycle of addiction over and over. 

So what would I do in the War on Drugs: first, decriminalize marijuana with regulation and taxation and treat it like alcohol. Because it represents the same threat as alcohol if not less of a threat. And then use some of those resources to prosecute drug dealers and keeping heroin, cocaine and meth out of the country in the first place. 

Then instead of sending drug addicts to prison, force them into drug rehab instead at private facilities that they would pay for and stay there until their doctor feels they are clean. And then send them to a halfway house where they can get help transitioning back into life with a job and place to live. That again they would pay for. And then transfer all drug offenders who are in prison for either drug use or drug possession, that have good prison records, into drug rehab and then they could leave drug rehab again when their doctor feels they are clean. 

The whole so-called War on Drugs has been a stupid and insane failure that never had to happen in the first place. If it was just fought in an intelligent way to begin with treating drug addicts the same as drug dealers, is like treating thieves the same as murderers. These are different level of crimes and criminals that should be treated differently. That would be an intelligent way to fight the so-called War on Drugs.