Why is the President commuting sentences of cocaine traffickers?

[Warren DeMontague]

139. I think it's an oversimplification. Not all drugs are equal, neither is all use/abuse/addiction

you have different people, sometimes at different points in their lives, and they may have different kinds of relationships with different substances, different use patterns, etc.

Some studies have been done which indicate even the so-called super hard, dangerous drugs like heroin- only some percentage of people get addicted to it. I don't know, seems sort of a dangerous experiment to try, but I do know for instance that some people shouldn't touch alcohol at all, some people can drink it occasionally with no problem, some people get some benefit from it, and then some people are problem drinkers who nevertheless don't develop the physiological symptoms of alcoholism, etc.

"self-destructive" is somewhat a subjective label, anyway. A glaring example would be someone like Chris Christie who obviously seems to have some 'self-destructive' habits when it comes to taking care of his own physical person, yet nevertheless has the nerve to lecture the millions of people who use something like cannabis responsibly, calling them "diseased".

But, yes. When it comes to people deciding that a certain substance or relationship with that substance is harmful or detrimental in their lives, they fundamentally need to be the one to make that call and seek out help or ways to get themselves into a better, more healthy frame (and I do not subscribe to the one-size-fits-all treatment mentality which some 12 step professionals embrace) ... others can't do it for them.

Lastly, prohibition just doesn't work. We should have learned that with alcohol.