When I imagine the War on Drugs, a mother arrested for drug possession, a woman sentenced to a lengthy incarceration... the conjured image is of a woman who has no soul...who has no remorse for using the terrible crack, cocaine, heroin...who's children have been "rescued" by the United States and now will have a wonderful, beautiful, rosy life.

That's a picture painted very large, bold and generalized enough to scare us into allowing government officials to legislate very bad laws.

In truth the majority of chemical/drug abuse sentences are for marijuana and the young woman is attempting to self medicate to relieve some psychic pain.

You see there are no "three strikes your out" when it involves a drug/chemical...even when the chemical is marijuana used by a citizen of the United States.

The federal/state penalties are very harsh on our young daughters and sons.

They are not allowed to make a mistake.

No, our children are being sentenced up to 20 years in a penitentiary for smoking marijuana.

There are however many loopholes, chances and leniency when an industry pollutes a human body with chemicals and drugs.

In my 40 some odd years of living, the Drug War had never been an issue I cared to worry with... that changed when someone I love had to go through a system racked with corruption and a fight with laws made solely for private industries to trade their stock based on human lives.

It changed when there was no more money and we were bankrupt because of the excessive fines, fees and health care expenses.

When I realized government had distorted the Constitution to such an extent that the words of this great document is no longer honored by Courts of Justice in the United States.

That the Controlled Substances Act is based on a treaty... that Congress justifies the use of this act based on some distorted view/version of the Commerce clause found in the Constitution without regard for the Bill of Rights amendments:

Article IV
"The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, SHALL NOT BE VIOLATED, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

Article VIII
"Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted."

Article IX
"The enumeration in the Constitution of certain rights shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people."

And the hypocrisy of Congress (state and federal) related to:

Article XXI
"The Eighteenth Article of amendment to the Constitution of the United States is hereby repealed."

It changed when I began to wonder, why a parent who self medicates is an imminent threat/danger to a child but an industry that puts toxins into the water is not considered an imminent threat/danger.

Instead industries are allowed to put known cancer causing poisons into the water as long as the water test (of 1 death per 100,000 human beings) are not exceeded.

It changed when I found out that the United States of America had privatized its prison system.

When I reasoned that Human Beings locked in cages are now a part of some companies portfolio.

That when a young person applies for a job, their background check will show them to be a criminal... they will of course, have a hard time finding work that will support their family.

That if a child has been removed from their care because of a chemical addiction, there will be many, many occupations they will automatically be disqualified for.

I do not advocate drug use however it is the right of a free people to choose.

Recovering Alcoholics do it everyday as they walk by the beer coolers in the store.