>I'm cool with weed but there is no way heroine or coke should
>be legal.?


arrest, in and of itself, is a traumatizing experience.
you don't get kids off of drugs by traumatizing them.
research has shown that's not effective.
actually, arresting kids makes them MORE likely to keep using.

not only that, once you have that arrest record, it follows you around for life.


life.
as in, forever.

so this kid, who is already struggling, will struggle even harder when it's time to fill out college application. when he applies for military service. when he tries to get a job.


30 years later, when this kid is an adult,
that arrest record will STILL be there. even if the kid has kicked all drugs,
he still has that arrest record.

how is the arrest record helpful to the child?
how is it helpful to society?
why are we giving children-- who are basically dumb-- LIFELONG consequences
for stuff they did when they were dumb children.


if we are going to make this about "the children,"
then let's think about them.