He leaves 3 young children. I'm all for accolades on his talent as an actor but what he did was to ruin his kids lives forever, and cause his parents and his partner to be heartbroken, and that can't be fixed. Maybe it was out of his control and maybe it wasn't. This happened to a friend of mine's son. He didn't use for a long time and then when he did his body had lost it's tolerance for it and it killed him. His father's take was that "he made a big mistake and did something stupid". I would put heroin dealers in jail mandatory for 20 years, users 10.
Horrible, horrible tragedy absolutely, and since I personally lost a family member to this insidious drug you would think i would agree with you on your stern wants for the punishment of users and dealers.
I could not disagree more.
If after 40 years that anyone cannot see that the war on drugs as been a total, and utter failure, I question their touch with reality. Since the war on drugs has started prices have gone down, supply has gone up and purities have skyrocketed. Is this really working?
The laws are already so draconian in regards to drugs with mandatory minimum sentences that people arrested with personal use amounts are in many cases sentenced to longer sentences that pedophiles and rapists. That is not hyperbole. It is not stopping people and the only people who get rich off it are organized crime, drug cartels, and "for profit" prisons.
I don't have the answers, and I have a feeling I am opening up a can of worms here. But one answer that I can state unequivocally is that the current model DOES NOT work at all. The proof is in the pudding. It is time to try something different, and maybe just maybe we are starting to see the tide turn toward some common sense with the recent legalization of marijuana in Colorado and Washington.
Now, I get that "hard" drugs are a different animal than marijuana, and far more dangerous, but maybe just maybe they would be less dangerous in a legal setting where qualities and purity's are controlled, that they are not cut with dangerous garbage, and that resulting sin taxing (and the billions saved by not jailing users) could pay for treatment and education. It is proven that even if it is illegal with harsh crimes, plenty of people are going to use anyway.
It is fact that an extra strong batch of heroin cut with fetanyl has killed dozens and dozens up and down the east coast the last couple weeks. (you can google it) It is very likely that PSH got part of this batch. If this was done in a controlled manner where consistent strength was prescribed, the risk of OD goes down greatly. You simply dont know what you are getting on the street.
I don't know though, I vacillate on the topic of hard drug legalization, but just putting a thought out there as again, the current model frustrates the hell out of me. I am not naive enough to think that "legalize everything" is the absolute answer. I just know that some serious dialogue has to be started somewhere.
