Recently I was talking to someone whom I hadn't had the misfortune of meeting before, and she complained that 3 members of her family were in prison on drug charges. The prison sentences were only for about 1 year for each one.

It seems that one or two have some type of blood disease and the doctor that they went to prescribed some type of drug that was habit forming and that could cause addiction. They not only took the drug, but later learned how to get this drug on the black market and then they decided to sell it themselves, thus, they got caught doing this and they ended up in prison. Of course, the family is very upset that these poor things are in prison and think it's very unjust.

I believe that whenever a doctor prescribes a medication that is habit forming or can cause addiction that they verbally let the patient know and they give a print out about this drug and what it can do. The medical people are upfront about this. No doctor, nurse or pharmacist can force us to get a prescription filled. Furthermore, an intelligent person would ask about alternatives to this drug and possibly do a little research on their own about this disease that they have.

But way before these characters found about their blood disease, they could have prevented it. Oh sure, it's some type of inherited disease that they have. Inherited or not, we can control what goes on inside of us. It starts with taking care of our bodies, inside and outside.

Nearly everyone that I see in the grocery stores has their shopping cart full of soda, beer, potato chips, frozen dinners, low fat this, no fat that, very few if any fresh fruits and veggies. Lots of meat including pork, chicken, beef, hot dogs. They load up on preservatives and that friends, is what is killing many of us. These type of people never go to a farmer's market, never look into stopping and getting their eggs from someone who has a sign on their property advertising eggs for sale at $2.50 a dozen, never seek out a farmer who might be selling milk, butter, cheese or meat on their property. They don't take vitamins, don't believe in herbs, never exercise, park in front of the computer all day and lay on the couch half the night! It's no wonder so many Americans are sick!

But when some end up in prison as in the above situation that I mentioned, we all pay. Not only do we pay to keep these low life's behind bars; but when they get out, they may very well be living near us and we could be a target for their next crime because they can't find a job, because they are felons.

All this could be prevented, if people would be more responsible for their health and we would all be a whole lot  happier as well!