Welcoming a Guest Commentary...

Okay, so I am one of those with a lot of experience with this having done a lot of work proposing legislation to curb the misuse of firearms. Then, I have had a lot of issues surrounding extended family - and people I am related to by marriage. Just about this time last year one of those people died due to a drug overdose. And society failed that guy on numerous levels. How much of this sounds familiar?

Parents divorce - father is mostly absent from the situation and what little he is around, he is a drug addict
The mother refuses to discipline her children and / or put them in an environment where they can be corrected
The children drop out of school and start taking drugs
They get on food stamps; mommy foots the bill for their upkeep and refuses to force them into the workforce
They don't get a job; drugs force them onto the streets after mommy can no longer afford them
They end up in jail and maybe prison

Right away it is obvious that we need to reform the laws on divorce. Marriage vows used to be "until death do us part." Now it's just until the parties decide to split and leave the taxpayers with a tab for the parents offspring
The system administers drugs as a FIRST option which begins cycles of dependency. We give the mental health community a free pass and even encourage Drug Nation USA
The custodial parent encourages the dependency and refuses to parent while the government is parenting via legal drugs
The system hands out debit cards to buy food with and supports deadbeats, never requiring them to actively seek work or go to school
We have virtually shut down mental health facilities for all but those who can afford the insurance (which locks out those with the most need.)

We complain about the situation. Some people post on discussion boards. Others get mad. They steam, they stew, they boil, they get hot under the collar, turn red, lose their head, blow their top, hit the ceiling, and raise the roof. But DO anything about the situation? Let's see if this poster on another board was serious or just another blow hard.

There are plenty of things that should be done. I have someone in my own family that allows their son to mooch off the system. The POS will never look for a job because the government pays for his food. Mommy chauffers' him wherever he needs to go. the hospital is his primary care doctor (and he never pays.) He refuses to get a job because he does drugs and won't give up the heroin in order to get the job. The mother's excuse? "Well I can't just let him starve?" In her early years she should have been prosecuted for child abuse. Now she should be tossed in the pokey for aiding in the commission of a crime (presupposing it's a crime to draw food stamps to keep from quitting drugs in order to get a job.) He should be forced into drug rehab and a program to get him back to work.

This is what is happening and if the people who found this thread have the courage to address it, I will tell you what can be done as I've studied it quite a bit and lobbied legislators for change. The legislators don't want to change the system because that requires telling people things they don't want to hear. It's easier to leave it alone because most are satisfied to stop in on larger boards, bitch about it, and move on. But, I'm always open to a real conversation about it.

"Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing had happened." Winston Churchill

The others who could participate have obviously sat it out once again and decided not to participate. Just in case they do return to keep up with the reality of the situation, this is my view:

As most people know America is in a really bad place by not having a moral compass. Americans rejected God; God rejected them and is punishing His people for not obeying. And if don't believe, then you are left to conjure some moral playbook and share it with us. That takes us to...

Parents - Children are in a really bad place due to the antics of their parents. The parents use the schools and the doctors to raise their children. What misguided government school teachers miss the doctors and mental health officials catch with their legal feel good drugs. Instead of proper rearing and discipline the system uses drugs to make children and teens do whatever the government wants in that moment. The United States is Drug Nation USA. Contrary to popular belief, your child is not THAT special. They probably don't need drugs to make it through the day and if they have gender issues before they gotten old enough to know about sex, it is the lack of parenting and the corrupt educational system at fault. What to do?

Doctors / Mental Care Profession - We genuinely need to pass a law prohibiting the medical and mental health communities from prescribing drugs until all other forms of non-drug therapies have been tried and proven ineffective. Then, if a patient is not taking the drugs as prescribed and / or exhibiting anti-social behaviors as a result, the patient is put into supervised care. We need to build and staff mental health facilities to house those who should not be running amok in society.

Government - Have you ever dealt with the government? Your child is overly active so right away the school wants you to send your child to the doctor for Ritalin or maybe Adderall. This is wholly unnecessary in the majority of cases. The more likely culprits for such behavior: improper sleeping regimen, bad diet, lack of exercise, too much computer time / too little study time, chaos in the home, drugs in the home, mental / physical abuse, bullying, the lack of a regular schedule for work, study, and play time. When will we address this? A responsible government and responsible mental health community would demand that we find the root cause of the problem before reaching for the prescription pad.

We allow society to create drug addicts and welfarites then refuse to give them any realistic way to escape the dependency cycle. We have an untold number of homeless people among us that pose all kinds of threats from sanitary to potential violent acts. We are allowing the atmosphere where drugs are the norm which, in turn, attracts the drug dealers. It starts with parents and there should be laws against enabling people to milk the system. Parents who allow their children / teens / adults to stay on food stamps, live in the home rent free, avoid work, and depend upon mommy for all that welfare and generous organizations provide are criminals in my opinion. The government could slow the trend by requiring people to be looking for work OR work for part of their welfare money AND go to school to get a GED and / or transferable job skills. We need more resources for drug rehabilitation and we need to stop glorifying insanity as an alternative lifestyle. Enabling is NOT help. It is aiding and abetting criminals and mentally disabled people.