A Meth Addict Gets Sober in Orange County Community Court

"Non-prosecution under certain conditions" is what decriminalization is generally understood to mean.

I understand what you're trying to do here, and you're not wrong. It's rather more about context and how this works in reality.

Your perspective is correct, in that seeing a relapse as a complete failure can actually make it worse. You're right that the best mindset is to get up again, remember that whatever has been accomplished is not lost at all, deal with minor withdrawal, and get back on the horse (or wagon, I guess).

But the perspective of others here is also correct. One of the most common causes of relapse is thinking 'I can handle it now', is moderation, is forgetting the difficulties and struggles of quitting, forgetting the weeks, months or years lost to continuously failed 'moderation', and taking for granted the positive things that happened since quitting.

To someone who is 'clean', it is absolutely disastrous to think that a relapse is not very dangerous. Because the mind wants excuses to indulge again, and even the tiniest thought that this can be possible without potentially a complete reversion to an earlier situation can be enough of an excuse.

But to someone who just relapsed your message is probably very valuable. I think most people here would agree with that.

The thing is, the number of people around who need to hear that a relapse should scare the living crap out of them is almost guaranteed to be much higher than the number of people who need to hear that it's not the end of the world.

Before relapsing, not relapsing is 100% the correct advice. After relapsing, your message might or might not help. I've experienced many situations where no approach helped after a relapse other than, well, waiting and hoping.

And that's why I think people disagree so strongly. Not because you're wrong, but because your statements, in practice, can be harmful to people reading them.

No one in this thread is claiming this and I certainly am not.

If your frame of mind, attitude and inclination have shifted so far from what 'makes sense', i.e. staying sober after proving that you're incapable of using without losing control, then pretending it isn't a big deal to use once isn't helpful. It is detrimental. An addict's mind will want to find any excuse to minimize away the problems of using, and if you're at the point where you've willingly used once, you've already started going down that rabbit hole.

> I'd do almost anything to avoid going into full on withdrawal

So would a lot of people. The best way to avoid going through withdrawals after using is to keep on using, hence why a relapse is a problem.

After going through opiate withdrawals, I found quitting smoking rather pleasant in comparison. It's really not a ride you wish to take again.

A) You're right about the Draconian consequences of a jail sentence, and you also forgot to include the loss of her right to vote. However, I'd also like to point out that death will similarly disqualify his sister from student financial aid, government jobs, pretty much any job with an element of trust involved, housing, foreign travel. It might also disqualify her from voting, though there's always some reports each election cycle to the contrary.

B) My brother in law did go to prison for a useless drug offence that was a complete waste of everyone's time, thought it did make the police departments numbers look a bit better in their annual report. All of those bridges that you spoke of have been burned for him. As I understood your argument, you believe that his life is no longer worth living? Should I go ahead and euthanise him while I'm in town next Thanksgiving?

I hate the prison system. I hate the drug war. They are both broken on every level and future generations will judge us for how vilely we've handled this situation. However, I also have the perspective to know that there are people for whom there are worse fates than a life with a felony conviction on her record. They aren't common, and my brother in law wasn't one of them, but I accept the possibility that kilroy's sister might be one. It's certainly unlikely, but it's possible, and kilroy know the facts in the case better than I do.

Edit1: Fixed some language

Also if an addict's perception of a life 'worth living' depends on external things, like yours does, the addict is highly likely to just go back to addiction anyway. Life is worth living without student loans or government jobs or travelling -- or similarly, drugs -- and much of overcoming addiction is learning to recognize that.

Attitudes like the gps are not always right, but are pretty much the only opinions I hear expressed.