[GenuineRisk]

It's a interesting thread, MMSC.

I think it's easy for those of us who don't have addictive personalities to wave our fingers and say, "Well, they just need to realize they have a problem and get help." And easy for us to get frustrated at an apparent unwillingness from repeat offenders to not get their acts together and want them punished until they get their acts together.

BUT-I think addictive personalities really are different from non-addictive personalities, and within those addictions there are all kinds of different levels- some manage to address it and some never do. And they address it in different ways- I am seldom surprised when a former drug user turns to God- in my own opinion, that person is trading one addiction for another. (Though, fortunately, the religious addiction is less likely to make them get behind the wheel of a car when they are physically impaired) Our culture wants easy fixes and addiction just doesn't have one.

I wonder, too, if being a jockey makes one more likely to be an addict, or if addictive personalities are more likely to become jockeys- you need to be an adrenaline junkie, at least, to do a job like that. Seems like they can function when they're living at that higher level that riding a race is; it's real life they can't handle. And I wonder, is that an unwillingness or an inability?

I also, am not sure what is accomplished by banning them from riding races. Are owners who are caught using drugs banned from owning? Are trainers caught driving under the influence banned from training (honest question; I don't know what the rules are for the other careers in racing and drug use)? If the wish is to get the person off substance abuse, the banning from riding doesn't seem to be working.

I don't know the answer. I do think jockeys are a smaller picture of our society as a whole- Gov. Huckabee quoted a prison official in his book that we don't have a crime problem in the US so much as we have a drug and alcohol problem. And clearly how we address addiction right now is not very successful.

Good topic, MMSC, and good thoughts, everyone.