AHS Views

One of the consequences of taking drugs and using alcohol is having to take your chances with the justice system. Unfortunately, it’s not always just. Being caught smoking marijuana and going to court-ordered drug rehab is a good thing – compared to other possibilities – but things aren’t always that simple. And the things that CAN happen within the justice system are good enough reasons to get addiction help before the law catches up with you.

For example, there’s the three-strikes law in California: Sure, there have been a few people who deserved life in prison and got it. But that same law, followed to the letter, also resulted in a shoplifter named Leandro Andrade getting 50 years to life in prison for hiding videos in his pants as he was leaving K-mart.

Here’s another stunning example: A 41 year old man wanted to commit suicide. He took a can of beer and 31 of his mother’s painkillers to a park. While at the park, a police officer arrested him for drinking in the park and, when the officer saw he also had 17 painkillers, he was arrested for drug trafficking. In court, he was sentenced to 15 years in prison.

Not only is he not getting help for whatever made him want to kill himself, he’s now one of the thousands of people in Florida in prison for prescription drug trafficking.

These types of cases may not be in the majority, but they do represent how crazy things can get when laws don’t allow room to think – room to actually judge what’s right, what’s wrong, and what’s punishment is fair when you consider the details of each individual case.

Doing something that could put you at the mercy of the justice system is just plain stupid. You never really know what’s going to happen, but whatever it is, you probably wouldn’t consider that last drink or high worth it. And it may completely ruin your life, and that of your family.

Got drugs? Get into a good drug rehab program now.