High rates of recidivisim are evident in incarcerated, drug offenders after they are released. What exactly is recidivism? What do you believe accounts for the high rate of recidivism?

Recidivism is a person relapses into the same criminal behavior over and over again. High rates of recidivism stem from drug use, lack of education, poor family structures, mental illnesses, peer pressures, homelessness, inability for convicted persons to obtain jobs after release, unemployment, and poverty.

How do you help adolescent drug offenders desiring to be clean if their parents are abusers with no desire to stop using drugs?

It is hard to help adolescent drug offenders who have parents that use drugs also. One sure thing is that education plays an important role because it would allow young people with a drug history to see other opportunities that are available. Community programs that train adolescents in vocational areas are important. I have also seen programs that offer life coaches which is someone who will assist adolescents thru everything from budgeting to buying a house, to going to the market, interview skills, how to network, basically teaching them how to care for themselves. However, with anything the adolescent is going to want to make staying clean a priority and utilize this type of service to stay clean for a lifetime. I also believe that mentoring programs play an important role in adolescent drug offenders because it allows them to have someone that will give them support and offer advice on how to live beyond using drugs and not repeating the same mistakes that their parents made. One problem is that not enough people are willing to mentor or have enough time to mentor. I think the best persons to mentor are people who have experienced the same problems that these adolescents have faced, and are living their life completely different than the parent who they witnessed using drugs.

Should drug offenders be afforded the right to fight random drug testings based on Constitutional rights?

Drug offenders should not be afforded the right to fight random drug testing if they are in the criminal justice system. For the most part, drug offenders are in and out of the court system and as a taxpayer I believe that they lose that right once the district they live in has to pay for them to be incarcerated or pay for treatment programs. The use of drugs drives crime rates, impacts communities and families, and waste dollars that can be spent on education or other community services. Random drug testing allows parole and probation officers to see if this person needs more help and allows them to see if treatment is actually working.

It’s funny thing to think about the legalization of something that is illegal. Two states legalized marijuana and it is confusing. I’m not for legalization of marijuana because I see what it does to the adolescent. People start using marijuana and then they become addicted to other drugs. Cities and states are spending way too much on treatment for drug use. I went to California about two years ago and witnessed how people had set up Medical shops along Venice Beach area with signs that read the doctor is in. I don’t believe that every person that entered those establishments had a medical need.
I think that something that is illegal in the United State should stay illegal and should not be allowed to be made legal in any area for any reason.

I think that pre-teens would be affected by the legalization of marijuana. We already have substances that mimic marijuana and there is a high use of that. I think people underestimate the age that people start people using drugs. Pre-teens are definitely beginning to use drugs at earlier ages than their parents. I do think at this stage the legalization would affect this population because they are the generation that living in unstable home environments, have parents on drugs, and feel peer pressure to use these substances. I believe that as we legalize marijuana, there will be an increase in the number of younger age users.