If prescription drug abuse outways illegal drug abuse, shouldn’t the prescription abusers be in jail?

cocoa
#1. September 21st, 2009, at 3:51 AM.

It Should all be legal the land of the free

Tacyella
#2. September 21st, 2009, at 11:26 AM.

if you have money you go to rehab, if you don’t you go to jail…

Erica
#3. September 22nd, 2009, at 9:57 PM.

Actually, most individuals in prison for drug related offenses are there for misuse of prescription medications. Many people in my state are unable to pay for health care and unable to pay for rehabilitation. Many individuals in prison for drug related offenses are there because they were unable to get into rehabilitation. In fact many people are in prison due to first time drug offense, even if it’s just possession. A large percentage of inmates are in prison are there for drug related offenses.

My husband is in prison 2-4 years because he was picking up his mom’s prescription from the pharmacy for her. He was pulled over for a traffic offense and he had a history of drug abuse even though he had been clean for a while. His mother didn’t remember sending him to the pharmacy because of her medications she was on (she has a drug addiction, but her medications are prescribed to her). So, he is in prison for his mistake.

His drug charges were prescription related. And so are many other people. Do some research before jumping into your own conclusions. Many people would benefit from rehabilitation if they could afford it. Drug Addictions are a health condition and reaction to how a person’s body handles medications. Addictions should be treated as a medical condition instead of locking people up without treatment.

However if a person deliberately goes out and re-offends and doesn’t care, after a few tries with rehabilitation, then jail should be an another avenue.