Transferring the blame is almost as easy as it is wrong.

In the aftermath of the sentencing of Charles Dudley White, 27, and Bethany White, 25, to up to 30 years in prison each on methamphetamine and child endangerment pleas, two rationales have been expressed about the length of the sentences. One is that the Whites’ error was setting up shop in a middle-class neighborhood on Cherry Street instead of a trailer at the end of a dirt road. The second is that the judge is new and wanted to “send a message.”

Both rationales might or might not have merit.

Both are also completely irrelevant.

The blame — 100 percent of it — belongs to the defendants. They made choices and a consequence of making choices is taking what comes, and Judge M. James Chaney’s sentences were well within guidelines.

If the Whites hadn’t been caught and arrested and had made millions of dollars possessing and cooking crystal meth, they would have lived with that.

If the Whites had made a slight miscalculation and blown up their home and killed their children in the process, they would have lived with that.

If they had sought help, Warren County has ample public and private programs available. The audience in the courtroom at Tuesday’s sentencing also reflected family members who, more than likely, had tried everything they knew to avert the unfolding nightmare.

Nothing here discounts the reality of addiction. It is an illness. But at least initially it is an illness of choice. Sorry, but it’s not a mistake. A person might mistakenly believe “a little fun” won’t be life-changing. But ingesting narcotics is an intentional, voluntary act.

Do it, and you take what comes. You might get away with it. You might not. But whatever results is not anyone else’s fault.