Jump to content

Poll  

18 members have voted

  1. 1. How should an addict like this be handled?

    • The criminal justice system
      6
    • The medical system
      10
    • YOU SHOULD HAVE THOUGHT OF THAT BEFORE YOU TOOK THOSE DRUGS TOBY KEITHS AMERICA YES!
      2


Recommended Posts

I think this is more politics and news than it is football.For those unfamiliar with the story: Cliffs.Ryan Leaf, enormous quarterback prospect, picked #2 in the 1998 NFL draft behind Manning who was taken #1. There was considerable debate at the time whether or not taking Manning over Leaf was wise.In short order, he completely melted down and showed that, while he posessed a fantastic arm and athleticism, he had *absolutely* nothing else required to QB at the NFL (or NFL Europe, or CFL) level. Three years later, he was out of the league and football all together. He quickly earned the title Biggest Bust in NFL History and regularly competes for the top slot whenever 'Biggest Bust In Professional Sports' is discussed. In spite of finding himself in an uncomfortable and somewhat shitty place in the universe, he seemed to get his life on track and perhaps, found some peace. He went back to college and got a BS in Humanities. He landed a job at West Texas Q&M as a Mens Golf Coach, where he also volunteered as a Quarterbacks Coach for the football team. Apparently, at some point along the way, he got hooked on pills and in 2008, he was fired when he asked one of his players to give him some pill that he was prescribed. He moved to Canada to go to rehab but apparently, while he was at WTA&M, he had burglarized a players home to get his pain pills, plus the typical 'doctor shopping' routine that all pillheads go through. He was lucky- In 2010, he was sentenced to no prison, 10 years probation. A few weeks ago, he was busted again on... (drumroll)... burglary, theft and drug charges. http://www.greatfallstribune.com/article/2...y-theft-chargesThe DA in Texas is violating his probation, so it's a virtual certainty that he's going to prison. The only question is, for how long. I cannot imagine what it must be like to be him, the whispers, the colossal and highly visible failure. I'd suckstart the nearest shotgun. So, he has a monkey on his back. It's no shock. I know what its like to employ substances to deal with pain and mental anguish. In the United States, we deal with addicts via prison and punishment. Matter of fact, criminalization and incarceration is pretty much how we deal with everything here. In other countries, they deal with addicts via the medical system. Granted, there's a gray area where addict-behavior and crime can conflate- he's apparently going around burglarizing places to get drugs, but the narrative here in the United States- LOCK HIM UP AND HAVE HIM BREAK ROCKS FOR A FEW YEARS!!!- is very different than in other places. So, how do we deal with addicts like this? (I so solemnly promise not to berate the ****tards who give the wrong answer, either. I'm genuinely curious to hear what the 13 people on Full Contact Poker think about this issue)

Link to post
Share on other sites

he is a train wreck...it is sad what pills do to people. i know a guy who has this problem, he should be dead but somehow he is not. his family and society would be better off...sadly i think he might be as well. He has gone into OD several times, he was found passed out in his car in North Philly (think, gangs, whores and murder and you have north philly, it is also know as the badlands) foaming from the mouth, he had been on the hunt for more drugs - it is all bad. my opinion is small labor camps where the activities are controled and the day consists of hard physical work, where 100 percent of your time and activies are monitored may be the only thing to break the habit....i don't say this because i want him dead or because i like the idea of chain gangs but the total lack of control, the cost of money and pain to the family, the fact that he has 2 kids when he never should have been reproducing...what chance to do his kids have? he has been in and out of several rehab programs over the last few years with zero good results. knowing the family as i do they are good people but liberal democrats (not as liberal that the yahoos on here but still way left of reasonable) somehow they don't believe it is his fault but that he fell through the cracks of the system...crazy but out of respect for them i never bother to tell them they are wrong.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Both.He has a drug (perhaps "medical") problem that turned into a legal problem. I know a little about addiction and certainly have some empathy for the addict, but ultimately both problems and their resulting consequences are his responsibility.

Link to post
Share on other sites

It has to be a combination of both. I think the issue is with prisons being a one-size-fits-all situation, which leads to criminals living with worse criminals and no one getting any kind of rehabilitation. I'm not sure how to elaborate because it's not an easy issue, but medical attention and therapy should be part of his treatment.But I'm guessing that when he received probation in the past over prison, he probably had to get therapy, no? It seems that he's gone through a lot of his chances for leniency.

Link to post
Share on other sites

At this stage, I don't think you can not include some jail time. I'm very happy when I see an obvious drug-related crime receive probation only, assuming there are conditions requiring therapy and rehab. Then again, I'm realizing as I type this I don't know how this works in the US, where I presume many addicts don't have health insurance (or invalidate it with their addiction), so not sure who is paying for medical treatment.Other countries deal with addicts via the medical system, though not typically in a way exclusive from the prison system if we're also talking about multiple felonies.

Link to post
Share on other sites

do we have any sort of stats that prove rehab works in any sort if meaningful way as opposed to simply removing the person from society? don't think we could make a "one or the other" choice without hard data as to the real effectiveness. six sigma and all.

Link to post
Share on other sites

I voted medical, as I think essentially what's ailing him is a brain disease, but I think it really depends what our goals are. Rehab has an incredibly shitty result rate. Or at least, a really high relapse rate. Conversely, Jail won't rehabilitate him.. it might break him, but it won't treat his addiction. If our goal is to ahve him stop acting like a degenerate and stop breaking into people's houses, I don't think there's an easy answer. Honestly, I think this is what religion is for. What Leaf needs is a cult. A deep and profound religious conversion, with a support group of crazy people monitoring and shaping his behavior at all times.

Link to post
Share on other sites
I voted medical, as I think essentially what's ailing him is a brain disease, but I think it really depends what our goals are. Rehab has an incredibly shitty result rate. Or at least, a really high relapse rate. Conversely, Jail won't rehabilitate him.. it might break him, but it won't treat his addiction. If our goal is to ahve him stop acting like a degenerate and stop breaking into people's houses, I don't think there's an easy answer. Honestly, I think this is what religion is for. What Leaf needs is a cult. A deep and profound religious conversion, with a support group of crazy people monitoring and shaping his behavior at all times.
That is an excellent point. Maybe we can direct him to the nearest church?
Link to post
Share on other sites

given a sample set of drug addicts: recidivism (specifically criminal acts, not drug use itself) after/during treatment vs. the same after incarceration. I think that would be a good place to start. the ultimate decision would have to also include some factoring for cost (fairly easy) and for human rights/civil liberties considerations (super difficult). and I also think the final decision has to be made in terms of the total effect on society in regards to the crime rate instead what's "nice" for drug addicts.

Link to post
Share on other sites

ah but you posted a very specific straw man so I'm still scoring that one for me (official balloon guy scoring system). and I don't really think it was a strawman but whatevs.

Link to post
Share on other sites
ah but you posted a very specific straw man so I'm still scoring that one for me (official balloon guy scoring system). and I don't really think it was a strawman but whatevs.
LOOK AT ALL THESE PEOPLE SAYING WE NEED TO BE NICE TO THE DRUG ADDICTS!!!
Link to post
Share on other sites

for the question of "how do we deal with addicts (who commit crimes)" I stated that it should simply be a fact/data based decision concerning what actually works with the importance being placed on the effects to society as a whole, i.e. if rehabilitation isn't effective, then removal from society is ok (even though it's not nice). not sure how that changes/distracts from the topic.

Link to post
Share on other sites
for the question of "how do we deal with addicts (who commit crimes)" I stated that it should simply be a fact/data based decision concerning what actually works with the importance being placed on the effects to society as a whole, i.e. if rehabilitation isn't effective, then removal from society is ok (even though it's not nice). not sure how that changes/distracts from the topic.
I'm just saying that of course that the decision needs to be made on the total benefit of society. The idea that we need to make the decision based on what's nice for the addict is a straw man. No one was suggesting it should be otherwise, and if someone does, they should be mocked.
Link to post
Share on other sites
I voted medical, as I think essentially what's ailing him is a brain disease, but I think it really depends what our goals are. Rehab has an incredibly shitty result rate. Or at least, a really high relapse rate. Conversely, Jail won't rehabilitate him.. it might break him, but it won't treat his addiction. If our goal is to ahve him stop acting like a degenerate and stop breaking into people's houses, I don't think there's an easy answer. Honestly, I think this is what religion is for. What Leaf needs is a cult. A deep and profound religious conversion, with a support group of crazy people monitoring and shaping his behavior at all times.
Making drug addicts wards of the church sounds great to me. We finally get something for that tax exempt status we grant them and they get a whole new spigot of people to save. Win-win.I both agree that Leaf deserves jail time (he stole) and that going to jail won't help him at all and will probably only exacerbate his criminality. Not a fun issue.
Link to post
Share on other sites

yeah, I think that whole " deserves" jail time is at the heart of the issue. If our goal is to eliminate crime, I don't think the current penal system is the right model for it. Either we need to go hard core into rehabilitation, using prisons ( starting with juve) as a way of rehabilitating criminals, teaching them life skills, building them up as useful citizen. OR, if we are going to go the punishment model.. then we need to go all out, toss human rights out the window, and go china style.. making prison so horrible that it effectively scares people into not committing crimes, because the consequences are so wretched. But the half assed punitive prisons we have now are basically just social networking for criminals, and a way to apprentice from being a small time criminal into a hardened one, and hows that working out for us? Basically all these prisons are good for is keeping prisoners off the streets for a while so they can't commit crimes on free citizens.

Link to post
Share on other sites

First step, give people access to safe means of altering their consciousness. Maybe you check into a clinic for the night, get high with a safe, tested drug, and go home.Second step, if someone still needs more, you give them medical treatment. If we didn't have such an aversion to people having fun in these Unapproved Ways, there would be a whole industry built around helping people who can't handle it.Third step, if someone still wants to steal and hurt other people, put them in jail.Altering your state should not be illegal. Harming others will ALWAYS be illegal.

Link to post
Share on other sites
going to jail won't help him at all and will probably only exacerbate his criminality.
Thats right most of the time but in his case, there will be a pretty significant support network. Even though nobody wants anything to do with him right now, he's still a pretty high profile person (at least as far as his place in history). Americans have always loved tearing people down as much we love a comeback story. Even if the money is gone (which it seems like it is), even if his acquaintances have abandoned him and all he has left is his family, even though he's pretty clearly at rock bottom right now, there's still going to be a lot of people out there really cheering for him.If he's smart, he parlays this into a lucrative career counseling professional athletes on substance abuse issues. He has a perspective that very few people can begin to comprehend. Do the Dr. Drew circuit, he could turn this into a lucrative career if he plays his cards right.The ideal situation would be that the Ryan Leaf story was written as it was so he could go on to help others. The worst case scenario is that his relationship with substances is lifelong, the pain of 'being Ryan Leaf' is just too much and he winds up kickin' it with Amy Winehouse and Whitney Houston.
Link to post
Share on other sites
Thats right most of the time but in his case, there will be a pretty significant support network. Even though nobody wants anything to do with him right now, he's still a pretty high profile person (at least as far as his place in history). Americans have always loved tearing people down as much we love a comeback story. Even if the money is gone (which it seems like it is), even if his acquaintances have abandoned him and all he has left is his family, even though he's pretty clearly at rock bottom right now, there's still going to be a lot of people out there really cheering for him.If he's smart, he parlays this into a lucrative career counseling professional athletes on substance abuse issues. He has a perspective that very few people can begin to comprehend. Do the Dr. Drew circuit, he could turn this into a lucrative career if he plays his cards right.The ideal situation would be that the Ryan Leaf story was written as it was so he could go on to help others. The worst case scenario is that his relationship with substances is lifelong, the pain of 'being Ryan Leaf' is just too much and he winds up kickin' it with Amy Winehouse and Whitney Houston.
here's the thing, I've heard from a pretty reliable source who's a friend of the leaf family that Leaf is NOT busto... that he banked his signing bonus ( which was around 10 million) with friends of the family who are in fianance ( notice how different life is for the white quarterback as opposed to the black cornerback) and still has all that money, plus how ever much it's grown. He may not have access to it right now, or easy access to it... but he's not really at rock bottom either yet.
Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...