Should drug addicts (not peddlers) be helped rather than punished?

[bzcxx]

[Rosexøxø]

Prison only allows a person, one thing. ☝️

To be alone with their thoughts and away from society. It does society a favor, but they have always been with their thoughts. It’s a great deal of the primary reason, of why they have gotten into trouble, not only by and from their free will, but their thoughts, and well, and more so.

In prison: Free will is diminished, and the thoughts within themselves are still there, and if anything, maybe a heightened desire is increased for those urges and beliefs of coping, than when they have had access to it because being denied sometimes increases that feeling; etc.

All criminals and addicts are hopeless individuals who did not place their trust in religion, science, and do not hope in fairytales.

What they need is a person who can identify how they think and explain the truth to them at their level, or to explain the truth in general and hope they get it, and something clicks.

They need some belief in self and life.

They need access to sure fire alternatives, that they feel they are capable of upholding, or at least willing to challenge/ take on.

Addicts and criminals feel somewhat “good” at what they do.

They know there’s risk, so they feel that’s the “hard part” which comes with it and which they can handle, and they do what they do because they don’t see any other way. 🤷‍♀️

The ‘honest ways,’ made by society pose judgement to them.

Many of them don’t wish to be watched or make anyone try to “feel proud,” or in awe of them. They wish to get by, have fun, and live well.

When challenges arise, they resort to coping and lifestyles in the criminal world.

It’s a “freedom of expression,” so to say, where they don’t have to match or follow molds and guidelines- instead their criminal activities are closer to ancient primal ways, where wars, hunting, and trade were a thing.

They trade corrupt items because they don’t have access, confidence, or knowledge in higher-priced items.

They steal instead of buying and saving.

They don’t want to be embarrassed. They don’t want to be hurt. They don’t want to be ridiculed. They don’t know if they can do it,

and I’m entirely sure, they can.

They need to forget about society and have someone who will identify and work with the very true skills they DO have, and hook them up to a better outlet, that would benefit the common society.

I tell you, it’s an easy fix, and they’re not bad people.

We all know those who get high on weed, and all that. People anxious, looking to be calm.

It’d be peer pressure, anxiety, and all the negatives they don’t know how to get away from, and that pushes them in those directions.

They don’t know how to get away from their realities, so they wish to be high and absent from the mind.

To be imprisoned, only allows them the dreaded sober ness of all their wrong choices, them being looked down upon, spit upon by the criminal justice, them letting families down/ children, them wasting time away in a cement box.

Them having to try to “outdo others” in the box. Them not knowing what they will do when they get out, or who will care for them, and when you add that to being hungry, a person will do just about anything defined/ attributed as insane.

If people can reach for hallucinations and mirages of water and food (in the end of the spectrum of insanity), they sure can be willing to reach past any means, to try and get themselves those nourishments, when they’re only temporarily sane.

Laws and other people don’t really apply to them, when they don’t feel cared for. Why should it? Life becomes very tricky for them at those points.

I mean, a suicidal teen can even pick up the same habits as these druggies and crooks, if they had held off on their contemplation for a bit. They’d be almost like twins.

It’s because they lose hope and don’t recognize what they have, with a mixture of doubting what they can do, and if anyone cares. Their efforts of course by then, get messy, and society can only physically move them and choose to use their personal leverage of power, to deny them their irrational coping mechanism, and force them to be alone with the very things they fear.

It would be considered cruel when described as this, but society is not wrong to want justice, peace, and the welfare for the general public, but the public cannot be considered any greater than its weakest member. 🤷‍♀️
Every member makes up the society. ☝️

To exclude one, is to be careless and be faulty in logic, somewhere in the line.

Many crooks have the incentive not to starve, like ‘les miserables,’ and many act according to their individual needs.

They restrain from calling out for help and don’t know the tools of assistance available to them.

They’re not worked with to not need assistance anymore.

Then there are those without incentives because they didn’t have the upbringing to encourage good desires and show routes to reach those desires.

If mental disorders and physical disabilities can be cured, then mental disturbances can be changed.

Its certainly possible, people just have to SEE the crook and addict, and know what’s happening with them, in order to be able to reverse/combat the problems.

I think your question is a great one, with an answer already in and of itself.

Thank you 🙏 🤝

[Rosexøxø]

Society imprints them because they choose the wrong items on the table, but what society doesn’t realize is they were already living in a prison in their mind.. and they only used their free will to choose their idea of the “best option” to evade, or deal with their situations, and so on.

Incarceration doesn’t help.

The famous penitentiary prison in Philadelphia proved this on the extreme scale. Why would anyone thing something less extreme of the like would be better?

Has it helped anyone in all these years?

I’m sure the statistics would be rather low, unfortunately, but as usual, the solution is attainable.

[DubiousIntentions]

I thought we had a word limit in our answers. How does one get to write so much? But that asked, you had a good answer. 👍👌😊

[Anonymous]

Incarceration hasn’t been shown to improve the drug problem, so maybe a rehabilitative approach is a better path.

[NamerOfStars]

To a point. Mass incarceration hasn't helped, and has in fact made things worse by both making addicts pariahs and enabling ruthless criminals to become more powerful. It's time to try something more rehabilitative.

But that includes some measure of accountability on their part; it's not just a free pass to keep shooting up. I'm not sure of the fine points of how such a program would work, but the desire to change has to be mutual.

[Oigit]

I have a couple serious addicts in my family. Dealing with them and being forced to more or less cut them completely off did teach me one thing. You can only help someone that is already helping themselves and is 1000% committed to helping themselves. Attempting to help those that are 1000% committed to helping themselves and already doing so is a quick way to be taken advantage of.

[exitseven]

I think that if somebody wants to get clean they should get the opportunity to do it. A local police department has a deal that an addict can come in without fear of arrest and the cops will get them into a program, This has a high success rate because it is the addict that makes the decision to stop using drugs. If they are not motivated they will never change.

[NathanDavis]

first, they have to be able to help themselves... or, it will become pretty much unbearable for others to try and help

[SpringValley]

I read every reply on here. No one suggested asking the drug addicts what they want. If you did, you might just be shocked.

[DubiousIntentions]

Why? Drinking is an addiction as well as gambling, and even sex. But people get sent to jail, or lose money, or other things, yet they don't get help.

[YourFavoriteFriend]

Drugs should either become legal or ban smoking and alcohol as well!

[Jackblue]

They are a lot, most people in prison for drugs are dealers, not users.

[GoodGuyBreakingBad]

Yes, I agree with you 100%

[msc545]

Drug addiction is a medical problem. Punishing it is barbaric.

[PainusNdeeAnus]

Prison is much better than rehab TRUST ME ! 😂

[Jennz6]

Yes I think so

[MadKez]

Depending on what they have done or do

[jayhams]

Duh.