Do you think that it’s wrong to imprison drug addicts rather than treat them for their addiction?

How it is (Yapoo censored)
#1. February 17th, 2009, at 8:08 PM.

Treat while being imprisoned.

gomanyes
#2. February 18th, 2009, at 1:21 AM.

Maybe give them one chance in rehab. If they do it again, put them in jail.

slew
#3. February 19th, 2009, at 6:21 AM.

Nope. TO be a drug addict, you need to use illegal drugs before becoming an addict. Perhaps his substance abuse makes it involuntary for him to use drugs at the present, but prior to being addicted he used drugs as well, and in America, I seriously doubt he was not informed that his addiction may occur.

blas
#4. February 22nd, 2009, at 5:21 AM.

Yeah, okay, you are right. Why did you post this question if you already knew the answer.

You win.

My opinions and experiences don’t count.

love me for who i am
#5. February 24th, 2009, at 2:38 AM.

Our society waste to much money too put people in jail rather than rehabilitate nonviolent criminals and to take steps in preventing drug usage and etc.

Windy
#6. February 24th, 2009, at 10:06 PM.

The first few times they are busted, they can get off if they attempt rehab. After that, what can you do? They won’t get help and if jail is the only way, so be it. Some people are self medicating and doing drugs is so much easier then going to therapy, taking Rx meds, etc. or even accepting they have an illness.

Once they get out of jail, they have to completely avoid the situations and friends they used to know who were druggies and party people. They tend to fall back into their old routine.

I totally agree and I’m sure everyone will agree rehab is the best for someone using. But, at what point do you have to say Enough is Enough.

mhmd
#7. February 25th, 2009, at 8:02 AM.

I don’t think it’s wrong to imprison people who break the law. People who break the law pay the consequences.

Also, it is not true that drug users do not hurt anyone else. They are a burden on society and often a danger to their families and coworkers – those of them who manage to hold on to a job.

Having said that, I believe that because the benefits of treatment for certain offenders outweigh the cost of incarceration, the state should invest in treatment programs for those people. These would be people like non violent users of drugs with no or few priors. Also people who use but not sell, manufacture, or distribute

.

pubes13
#8. February 27th, 2009, at 4:09 PM.

Rehab doesn’t work if the addict doesn’t want to quit. They can go to Narcotics Anonymous if they want to.

Should people that forge checks be locked up with serial rapists?

And at the other extreme:

What about child molesters? Do they deserve therapy?

If you break the law, you suffer the consequences. Cocaine and heroin are illegal in this country. Look at Amsterdam, they’re trying to reverse the good intentions they had with the heroin parks. Hash bars and The Red Light District are still there but tourism has gone down so much that the government is closing most of them and replacing them with cultural interests like museums.

I do, however, think this country needs to use the drugs that are available elsewhere that ease the withdrawal for the user that wants to quit. Naldone or Naltrexone coupled with therapy. For some reason, treatment centers shy away from these because they think withdrawal will be “too easy” and the user will relapse because it wasn’t pure hell to detox.