Drug Abuse – An Epidemic!

There has always been drug use, but not at the degree it is today. It’s out of hand.  Alcohol is the cause of one third of all automobile accidents, now we want to add marijuana to that?  Programs such as “Just Say No” and “DARE” have not stopped illicit drug use.  I do not believe in the legalization of marijuana or other formerly illicit drugs.

We can cut use of drugs by two thirds its current use.

How will we do this?

According to the California State Estimate of Substance Use, nearly 13.3% of kids ages 12-17 have smoked pot in the past year, while 28.16% percent of young adults (18-25) have done the same.

Meanwhile 15.53% of kids the same age have drunk alcohol in the past month and 58.58% of adults have done the same.

See more at   http://www.oas.samhsa.gov/2k7State/California.htm#Tab2]

Do we need to look any further than to see how addictive behavior doesn’t go away?  Look at the Federal prison population. The Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) and the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) estimate that from 60% to 83% of the nation's correctional population have used drugs at some point in their lives; this is twice the estimated drug use of the total U.S. population (40%).

CASA estimates that of the $38 billion spent on corrections in 1996, more than $30 billion was spent incarcerating individuals who had a history of drug and/or alcohol abuse, were convicted of drug and/or alcohol violations, were using drugs and/or alcohol at the time of their crimes, or had committed their crimes to get money to buy drugs.

In the state of California, out of a total of 67,000 juvenile arrests, 5,500 arrests (nearly 12%) or were drug-related.

Out of a total of 140,000 adult arrests, 67,000 (or nearly 50%) were drug-related. [http://stats.doj.ca.gov/cjsc_stats/prof07/00/3B.htm]

The average cost per year to incarcerate an inmate in the United States is $20,674, the Federal average cost is $23,542, and the State average is $20,261.11

Annual costs among local jail systems vary widely, from $8,037 to $66,795. [Office of National Drug Control Policy].  Go to:

www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov/publications/factsht/treatment/index.html.

Let us look at the Drug-Food Chain.

At the top there’s the grower, who makes a ton of money farming the drugs; the distributor, who sells in large quantities to the street peddlers, who gains great financial gain. The peddler, who makes money selling the drugs on the street, makes enough money to maintain his own addiction.

The horrible part of this is that it is OUR CHILDREN that they are selling to!!

It takes big bucks to farm a stretch of land or maintain a hidden drug factory. Workers need to be paid, and if any of them talk too much you have to kill and dispose of them.

There must always be guards and lookouts outside to keep the government away. And let’s not forget the millions of dollars that must be paid to the politicians to keep them turning their heads to look the other way.

The money prevents the government and politicians from putting their power into crushing the cartels.

If the government and the politicians did decide to crush the growers and distributors, it would require some good stiff competition.

In the Drug Industry, nothing is honorable. Drug cartels raid police stations and have the chief’s head cut off.  They abduct the wives and children of border control police, who are later found raped and tortured—sometimes killed.

So the growers and distributors get what they want, money.

When the government raids illicit drugs and destroy them. I say, DON’T DESTROY OR CONFISCATE THE DRUGS! LET’S PUT THEM TO GOOD USE.

Take the profit out of drugs.  By the elimination of current drug supply system high dollar profit.

As Governor, I will enforce a program that gives addicts three choices:

1. To buy drugs from the state for ½ price of the street price.

2. Buy drugs from the street at full price.

3. Accept rehabilitation.

All those who have been arrested for illicit drug use will be notified of the government purchase program.

The current arrest system will be changed so that confiscated drugs are placed in the State’s selling program.

I will have as many drugs confiscated as possible and create a price war for only repeat offenders with criminal record rap sheet.

Illicit drugs will only be sold under the State’s program to those that buy the drugs every day and are the dregs of society.

When addicts purchase their supply from the State for half the price of the current street value, a tremendous amount of pressure will be placed on the street pushers.

It is estimated that 80 % of the drugs sold are sold to repeat addicts on a daily basis.

Street pushers will be forced into lowering their prices to keep the business.

The States’ drug program will continue to lower their prices until it comes to a point, the drug cartel cannot make a reasonable profit to stay in business in the state of California.

At some point in time they will go to another state or another business. There is so much money and crime, including beheading involved in the illicit drug industry;

The one purpose in mind is to bring down the price so low that you cannot afford to bring drugs into California and try to make a profit.  The cartel’s need a profit, to stay in business.

My objective is to make sure they cannot make money on drugs in California on the scale that they are now doing.

For a pusher to exist on the street, he needs a profit. He needs those repeat offenders coming to him every day so they can pay their supplier.

There will always be drugs as there have always has been, even before the white man entered this country.  Its wishful thinking to believe we will get rid of all drugs but I believe we can diminish the problem by 80% with my plan (and yes, we will control the borders).

We will push pushers out of pushing drugs on California’s streets by taking away the profit-factor.

Medical Marijuana

Medical Marijuana use has gone awry.  There is nothing being done to stop marijuana use. As your governor, I promise you, we will not have legalized marijuana. As your governor, I promise you, we will not have legalized marijuana.

In July 2009 a measure was filed in San Francisco allow adults 21 and over to possess up to one ounce of pot.  If the measure passes, homeowners will have the freedom to grow their own pot in their backyards, within certain restrictions.

This begs the question, “Who will police the backyards?”

Already there’s controversy about Los Angeles County not being able to keep track of all the medical marijuana dispensaries, let alone the County’s ability to verify which are legal!

The advent of medical marijuana use is a gateway to the use of harder drugs.  It is statistically proven that a large percentage of marijuana users will be on harder drugs tomorrow.  Studies show that large amounts of the legal drug, alcohol and marijuana go very, very well together.

We now have on the market, a pill for marijuana that should only go through the pharmacy this requires a prescription by the doctor, and even then, I don’t think we’ll be able to stop the epidemic we have created.  One third of all accidents are alcohol related. What will be the percentage of accidents related to marijuana use?

Our local governments and the State of California are doing nothing to stop this epidemic. We are spending billions on rehabilitation, the DARE program, the Just Say No program, ,the police, court, and prison systems with no end in sight for reducing the use of illicit drugs.

We continue to put our head in the sand!

Politicians, doctors, and the pharmaceutical companies only care about money. It has been written that the American public is over medicated.

I have personally witnessed the early morning appointments of young teenagers at a Garden Grove marijuana dispensary as they lined up in the back alley parking lot. The kids are there only a few minutes.  The prescription changes hands and the money changes hands. This occurs daily during the dispensary’s operating hours. These buyers are now driving their automobiles with the possession of marijuana. Some may go down the alley and make their joint, light up, and continue to drive. You and I are to blame for letting this epidemic take place. We put them in jail for driving under the influence and now we are putting them in jail for smoking marijuana while driving.

Kids want to be cool, be on the inside track, and be thought of as a being in the big time so they know where they can get legalized marijuana. Medical marijuana dispensaries are making big money.  Entrepreneur and dispensary owner Richard Lee helped push the first-of-its kind tax on city medical marijuana.  This has taken place during a time when our society is getting poorer.

Has legalizing marijuana helped balance California’s budget?

I find no evidence of it.

What will the total cost of medical marijuana ultimately be to our society, to our morals, and to our country tomorrow?  God help us out of this madness!

Do you think marijuana should be legalized in the State of California? Yes or No?

Please tell your friends and relatives to visit this website as we need their votes. Only through your efforts of contacting everyone you know by telephone, email, and word of mouth is the only way this can happen. Further, if you can make a contribution, I promise you 100 percent will be used for the election of HUGHES4GOVERNOR.