Kate.sully1986
Greenlighter
- Joined
- May 24, 2017
- Messages
- 3
Thank you for the privilege of posting here and expressing my first opinion! ��
I am 30 years old and have struggled with drug issues since I was a teen. I respect the information available on this site. And am interested in working with others to decriminalize drug use. I believe that accurate information is key if people are to be safe if they are choosing as consenting adults to use substances, so that we can reduce harm and death. Drug use and abuse is much different than addiction which ruins lives and results in the death of innocents.
I do not wish for my future children to use drugs and fall into a painful addiction. However if they make that choice as adults I want them to be as safe as possible. I don't want anymore unnecessary death, I have seen too many funerals, and/or health issues for people I love. I believe to achieve this is only going to be accomplished by protest and education. Incarceration helps no one. I hope, one day we can take the example of Portugal and many European countries and treat drug abuse as a health issue and not a criminal issue and treat addicts and users with respect and compassion.
I live in Colorado and am interested in talking to other informed adults for a serious minded debate about what we as citizens of this community can do to help our brothers and sisters. I also would like to make some friends as I have lost many who, when I am honest about my past, sometimes treat me like a leper. Drug users are NOT bad people simply because they use, and addiction is a medical problem requiring medical help. Not a sign of weakness. If prohibition of alcohol was overcome then drug prohibition can be as well. Legalized drug use sanctioned by doctors will save lives. As we have see with prohibition of alcohol in the early 20th century, we see that the black market opens the way for thugs and con artists to control this lucrative market and murder, prostitution, the selling of unsafe product and all of the other vile things brought about by organized crime will continue, resulting in the physical death of many, and the psychological scarring and trauma that every serious user carries because of the life style. I myself was raped by two men who used drugs to incapacitate me and of course discredit me in the eyes of law enforcement when I reported the crime. This is not some unusual story. Many people I cared for have been beaten, robbed, raped, threatened with weapons. And why? Because we are not in the eyes of the mainstream deserving of protection. We are the people who in many people's eyes are "less alive", so when we are killed whether by tainted drugs, violence or simply succumbing to this dangerous life, we are seen by many as"less dead". This breaks my heart.
If you are on this site for information and do not use drugs. Please know, we are your children, the investment bankers son or the crack head's daughter, we're the same. We are your spouses, whether we are a bag lady in New York, or an entertainer in L. A., we're the same. We are your parents, we wanted and still want the best life for you our children, we are the same. If you lucky folks, free from the cycle of addiction, can just realize how many people who you know, and who are everything we want our citizens to be, struggle with secret compulsions, and wish as much as you do that we would, COULD, simply stop disappearing, disappointing, and otherwise breaking your hearts. You would see that the state of the Drug War is not improving lives. Jail will not cure a compulsion. We need medical help. If you blessed free could let your communities know this is the truth we can all get help and a fair shot at life. Dehumanizing the enemy is the way good people justify bad wars. We addicts, abusers, and occasional users are human. And we need you on the outside and to join together on the inside. No fight can be won until we realize junkies are humans. That is my first statement for this site. A cry to all people to use the best part of their humanity and join together before it's too late.
I am 30 years old and have struggled with drug issues since I was a teen. I respect the information available on this site. And am interested in working with others to decriminalize drug use. I believe that accurate information is key if people are to be safe if they are choosing as consenting adults to use substances, so that we can reduce harm and death. Drug use and abuse is much different than addiction which ruins lives and results in the death of innocents.
I do not wish for my future children to use drugs and fall into a painful addiction. However if they make that choice as adults I want them to be as safe as possible. I don't want anymore unnecessary death, I have seen too many funerals, and/or health issues for people I love. I believe to achieve this is only going to be accomplished by protest and education. Incarceration helps no one. I hope, one day we can take the example of Portugal and many European countries and treat drug abuse as a health issue and not a criminal issue and treat addicts and users with respect and compassion.
I live in Colorado and am interested in talking to other informed adults for a serious minded debate about what we as citizens of this community can do to help our brothers and sisters. I also would like to make some friends as I have lost many who, when I am honest about my past, sometimes treat me like a leper. Drug users are NOT bad people simply because they use, and addiction is a medical problem requiring medical help. Not a sign of weakness. If prohibition of alcohol was overcome then drug prohibition can be as well. Legalized drug use sanctioned by doctors will save lives. As we have see with prohibition of alcohol in the early 20th century, we see that the black market opens the way for thugs and con artists to control this lucrative market and murder, prostitution, the selling of unsafe product and all of the other vile things brought about by organized crime will continue, resulting in the physical death of many, and the psychological scarring and trauma that every serious user carries because of the life style. I myself was raped by two men who used drugs to incapacitate me and of course discredit me in the eyes of law enforcement when I reported the crime. This is not some unusual story. Many people I cared for have been beaten, robbed, raped, threatened with weapons. And why? Because we are not in the eyes of the mainstream deserving of protection. We are the people who in many people's eyes are "less alive", so when we are killed whether by tainted drugs, violence or simply succumbing to this dangerous life, we are seen by many as"less dead". This breaks my heart.
If you are on this site for information and do not use drugs. Please know, we are your children, the investment bankers son or the crack head's daughter, we're the same. We are your spouses, whether we are a bag lady in New York, or an entertainer in L. A., we're the same. We are your parents, we wanted and still want the best life for you our children, we are the same. If you lucky folks, free from the cycle of addiction, can just realize how many people who you know, and who are everything we want our citizens to be, struggle with secret compulsions, and wish as much as you do that we would, COULD, simply stop disappearing, disappointing, and otherwise breaking your hearts. You would see that the state of the Drug War is not improving lives. Jail will not cure a compulsion. We need medical help. If you blessed free could let your communities know this is the truth we can all get help and a fair shot at life. Dehumanizing the enemy is the way good people justify bad wars. We addicts, abusers, and occasional users are human. And we need you on the outside and to join together on the inside. No fight can be won until we realize junkies are humans. That is my first statement for this site. A cry to all people to use the best part of their humanity and join together before it's too late.
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