Rodney

I have the experience of living in a town where you can smoke a joint in full view of a police officer. And not get arrested. I have seen it on numerous occasions. Where so much marijuana is sold on the streets that the cops don't bother to bust dealers unless they try to "take over" a particular stretch of sidewal, which has happened. Where not only is "medical marijuana" freely distributed, but there is a special bed and breakfast inn for for sufferers of illness who use marijuana to amerliorate their symptoms. Where the city council essentially declared marijuana for private use decriminalized and so instructed the police and, in a public ceremony lighted up joints (several of them, anyway) on the steps of city hall. Why not? They all do it at home...

In short, I live in a town where smoking dope less serious a crime than letting your parking meter run out.

And what kind of users are doing the serious crimes? Crystal meth users -- and drunks. You see to embrace some kind of treatment philosophy that puts everything on the individual and ignores the specific qualities of the drug. You seem to deny that the drug has any real behavior-modifying effect at all, except as an excuse. So, there's no difference between someone on crystal meth, alcohol, and marijuana? It's all the same? From my personal experience, I can't accept this.

And if that was the case, legalize all drugs and be done with it.