People pick-up Meth habits in high school or shortly thereafter. With a decade or more of abuse, subjects will appear to have aged several. Sad...
When I was in high school, the "big thing" was Heroin or slightly less addictive, MJ. I had a friend who was a Heroin addict. He did not stop till he was put in the klink for over a year. When he got out, a good family structure and good friends like myself that weren't addicts kept him from ever returning to "old habits and familar places." While being in lock-up was what enabled him to break his addiction, he had to also make a conscious decision to do so. Although at a higher price, Heroin is had just as easy in prison/jail as it is on Wentworth off of US30.
While I do believe people need to be locked-up, consequences for their actions, as a society we are generally failing those people; when we consider repeat offender rate and the ratio of 743 persons per 100,000 in prison giving us #1 in the world status. Out of that, 25% are incarcerated non-violent offenders, many of them repeat offenders (2 out of every 5 persons incarcerated return to prison within 3 years).
As a society, we are doing something wrong here... both culturally and exclusively in our rehibilitation approach.
My friend made a conscious choice. There was no real structure to ensure his success or reintegration into society. His reintegration was a determined and wilful family and friend structure. I told him on many occasions, "If nobody loves ya, (my name) loves ya."
In land of the free and home of the brave, we should not have an incarceration rate THAT high.
We should end the war on drugs. Locking people up in prison settings for an addiction, especially if the circumstances surrounding them are of a non-violent nature, is cost prohibitive when the success rate is so poor.
If Amie's burglary can be attributed to an addiction, I can say with great confidence that our justice system will fail her and we will be reading much more about her in the years to come.
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If I were to assume, its Meth, although more than likely a recent addict. For her actual age, she does not appear to be a long term user:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2244031/The-horror-Meth-Before-pictures-reveal-shocking-transformation-faces-users-hooked-deadly-drug.html
People pick-up Meth habits in high school or shortly thereafter. With a decade or more of abuse, subjects will appear to have aged several. Sad...
When I was in high school, the "big thing" was Heroin or slightly less addictive, MJ. I had a friend who was a Heroin addict. He did not stop till he was put in the klink for over a year. When he got out, a good family structure and good friends like myself that weren't addicts kept him from ever returning to "old habits and familar places." While being in lock-up was what enabled him to break his addiction, he had to also make a conscious decision to do so. Although at a higher price, Heroin is had just as easy in prison/jail as it is on Wentworth off of US30.
While I do believe people need to be locked-up, consequences for their actions, as a society we are generally failing those people; when we consider repeat offender rate and the ratio of 743 persons per 100,000 in prison giving us #1 in the world status. Out of that, 25% are incarcerated non-violent offenders, many of them repeat offenders (2 out of every 5 persons incarcerated return to prison within 3 years).
As a society, we are doing something wrong here... both culturally and exclusively in our rehibilitation approach.
My friend made a conscious choice. There was no real structure to ensure his success or reintegration into society. His reintegration was a determined and wilful family and friend structure. I told him on many occasions, "If nobody loves ya, (my name) loves ya."
In land of the free and home of the brave, we should not have an incarceration rate THAT high.
We should end the war on drugs. Locking people up in prison settings for an addiction, especially if the circumstances surrounding them are of a non-violent nature, is cost prohibitive when the success rate is so poor.
If Amie's burglary can be attributed to an addiction, I can say with great confidence that our justice system will fail her and we will be reading much more about her in the years to come.
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