Except it literally is life or death in the case of withdrawal. Those who are addicted things like like heroin, or even have a severe enough addiction to alcohol can die once they’re in a certain part of the withdrawal process.
What do you think the replacement drugs do exactly?
And just because prison was the rock bottom that some addicts needed to reform doesn’t mean it’s the best option. Honestly prison is one of the worst possible options because it leads to a positive feedback loop of criminality. Addicts are automatically labeled as criminals on arrest and then have to fight against that stigma for the rest of their life. So of course they’d do things like turn back to crime, because their options are automatically limited on arrest.
Nobody was saying it’s the best option. It’s just what some felt they needed to finally break the cycle. Are you how familiar with Finnish prisons?
I won’t sit here and act like I have all of the solutions. I don’t have all of the solutions and I’m just some guy. But so long as addiction is seen as a criminal offense we will fail addicts every single time. We need the large scale social programs Finland has currently along with a strong re-evaluation of how to handle drug related crimes.
I don’t think decriminalization has really stopped addicts from committing crime. It’s a bit like homelessness here, you might offer all kinds of services and have housing available to everyone, but you can’t make everyone accept that help. Might help with the number of addicts, but won’t stop some from turning to crime to make money for drugs. Free drugs would probably do away with a lot of crime but then you’d probably have a shitload of ODs.
The replacement drugs only work with someone inside the system. There are a lot of people outside of or at odds with the system because of how it levies criminality against addicts. And again: criminality that is automatically assumed acts as a positive feedback loop leading to addicts committing legitimate crime.
I’m not familiar with Finnish prisons. I’ve been told that they’re better than US prisons and I definitely believe that much. But still, someone with an issue of addiction shouldn’t be going to prison at all in the first place. That was the main point I was trying to make there.
And I’m not advocating for anything like free drugs. What I’m advocating for is a more psychological approach to handing addiction. Addiction itself is a psychological disease, and it needs to be treated like that. Not like it’s some sort of moral failure: like the system insists upon.
I do not think we will find consensus on this, so this is where I’ll take my leave.
What do you think the replacement drugs do exactly?
Nobody was saying it’s the best option. It’s just what some felt they needed to finally break the cycle. Are you how familiar with Finnish prisons?
I don’t think decriminalization has really stopped addicts from committing crime. It’s a bit like homelessness here, you might offer all kinds of services and have housing available to everyone, but you can’t make everyone accept that help. Might help with the number of addicts, but won’t stop some from turning to crime to make money for drugs. Free drugs would probably do away with a lot of crime but then you’d probably have a shitload of ODs.
The replacement drugs only work with someone inside the system. There are a lot of people outside of or at odds with the system because of how it levies criminality against addicts. And again: criminality that is automatically assumed acts as a positive feedback loop leading to addicts committing legitimate crime.
I’m not familiar with Finnish prisons. I’ve been told that they’re better than US prisons and I definitely believe that much. But still, someone with an issue of addiction shouldn’t be going to prison at all in the first place. That was the main point I was trying to make there.
And I’m not advocating for anything like free drugs. What I’m advocating for is a more psychological approach to handing addiction. Addiction itself is a psychological disease, and it needs to be treated like that. Not like it’s some sort of moral failure: like the system insists upon.
I do not think we will find consensus on this, so this is where I’ll take my leave.