Texas talk

If you're not reading Grits for Breakfast every day, you missed Scott's excellent post on a teacher with 27 years of apparently exemplary service to her school system, who developed a drug problem and is facing 2-10 years in jail for possession of 1-4 grams of meth. To put that into context it would look like, at most, a half a teaspoon of sugar if you dumped it on the table. Scott rightfully berates the community for failing to offer support.

Drug abuse isn't just happening to those "other people" anymore. It's happening to our teachers, our prosecutors, our cops, our politicians, people in every walk of life. Treating it as a criminal instead of a medical problem makes things worse and doesn't solve any of the associated problems. The teacher in question is 51 and was functioning on the job; a leave of absence to attend a drug abuse program, plus a lot of support from her peers and community, and it's easily conceivable that in a year's time she could be back teaching, drug free, and able to contribute for quite a while longer during a time when Texas has a shortage of experienced teachers.

Read the post and keep scrolling for Scott's coverage of a logical proposal to remedy what ails the Texas probation system and some sage thoughts on the defunding of drug task forces. Oddly enough we owe the elimination of the Bryne grants that fund these atrocities to Bush's proposed budget. It's practically the only line item I agree with.