Cameron Douglas is speaking out from the Pennsylvania prison where he's on the fourth year of a 10-year sentence for heroin possession and conspiracy to distribute narcotics. And he's got a lot on his mind.
In an op-ed for The Huffington Post posted Tuesday, Michael Douglas' troubled son took issue with America's drug war, saying that he owns up to the mistakes he's made and deserves punishment. But he adds that there is a better way to deal with those in trouble with the law from illegal drugs than locking them up.
"There are half a million other people in the U.S. who, like me, will go to sleep behind bars tonight because of nothing more than a drug law violation," wrote the 34-year-old Douglas. "Our prisons are filled with non-violent drug offenders who are losing much of what is relevant in life. This outdated system pays little, if any, concern to the disease of addiction, and instead punishes it more harshly than many violent crimes."
He said the alternative is treatment for addicts like himself.
"I made mistakes and I'll gladly and openly admit my faults. However, I seem to be trapped in a vicious cycle of relapse and repeat, as most addicts are," he admitted. "Unfortunately, whereas the effective remedy for relapse should be treatment, the penal system's 'answer' is to lock the door and throw away the key...Instead of focusing on how many individuals this county can keep imprisoned, why can we not focus on how many individuals we can keep from coming back?"
The scion of one of Hollywood's greatest acting dynasties called on "educated" and "decent" men and women to fight to change the current system.
He then concluded his editorial by giving thanks to his family for their support throughout his ordeal.
"Nevertheless, I feel thoroughly blessed. I have a beautiful and loving family who has faithfully supported me every step of the way, believing in me and refusing to give up in the face of one bleak adversity after the next," he said.
Douglas is due to be released in 2018.