I'm not at all qualified to propose real solutions to this problem but I know from watching this failed drug war that we should start talking about alternative solutions and the way we do that is start considering other options. I feel like our current solution is hurting us as a whole more than it's helping us.
Mine did for me, and I'm clean now. Opiate-replacement therapy is one of the few proven ways to truly help addicts reintegrate back into society. I can somewhat understand the moral argument against it, but the facts don't really support it; I am quite biased, however, as I'd be dead or in jail without it.
I believe sentencing laws/guidelines needs to be reformed, but you have to see it from the governments perceptive. How do you stop people from becoming drug addicts? Legalize the drugs your trying people not to use?
I'm a "lost cause"? Thanks. I was a heroin addict from 16 years of age until I was 24. I've been clean for four years now, due to my governments excellent opiate-replacement therapy program.
The dehumanisation that happens when people discuss "junkies" makes me sick, and directly contributes to why a lot of us never ask for help.
Coming up to two years clean from an IV habbit. So, also a "lost cause."
I feel if people had the slightest idea just how many people around them are high on some kind of opiate, and how indiscriminate addiction really is that this type of language would be less prevalent.
Congrats on beating the gorilla.
That's just flat out not true. It's absolutely possible to beat an opioid addiction, though it can be extremely challenging.
To anyone who may be addicted to opioid's who is reading leakybit's words, please don't take them to heart. Despite what they say: There is hope. It is possible.
Echoing comments below, please watch your language. You are part of the reason people struggle to hold their hand up and ask for help.
If you mean just using and nothing more, it's not really true. Junkies don't get arrested for only getting high. It usually involves some other crime like robbery or petty theft.
Legalizing these drugs won't really solve the issue. Opiates are already legal, but expensive. Most addicts start out with the expensive prescriptions and then end up getting street drugs like heroin because it's so much cheaper. Street drugs will always be there because people the government always needs their cut through taxes.
"I do know that treatment instead of jail is a good thing."
..but to what end? If a person chooses over and over to take drugs, It's their freedom to take them, but also their responsibility to figure out a treatment plan.
I'm really tired of people demanding they can do what they want with their body and then demanding that I pay money to fix all of the negative consequences that comes along with it.
But your happy to pay for jail or did you have something else in mind?
Your're also ignoring a huge amount of people that take those drugs but don't end up being junkies.
As for the rest of your comment; yeah, it sucks, but that's the price you pay to be a part of a civilization. We all benefit from a healthy and happy population, so don't pretend like helping those at the bottom doesn't also benefit you.
But... It does. We know that it does. There are classes of drugs which don't lend themselves to responsible use. That problem will remain, and you'll still have the junkies stealing to get high, regardless of where they spend that money. These drugs have a negative societal impact, of course exacerbated by the fact that using them turns you into a criminal.
I don't know that e.g. unfettered access to heroin is a good thing. I do know that treatment instead of jail is a good thing.