When I went to school they made sure that Drugs Are Bad, Just Say No was a message that was hammered into every single child. Think about how our culture views

When I went to school they made sure that Drugs Are Bad, Just Say No was a message that was hammered into every single child. Think about how our culture views drug addicts -- if you hear an acquaintance or a friend of a friend is doing drugs, especially heroin, do you think "Man, that person's got it together! I really want to be like them!" No, you think about how they're a shitty person living a shitty life and you want to stay far, far away from them, because you know they'll lie and steal from you to get their fix. So I don't really have sympathy for addicts. It's not like drug addiction is a thing that happens to you, unlike losing your home to a hurricane, or getting cancer. If you choose to shove a needle of heroin in your arm of your own free will, that's a choice you've made -- and the consequences of that choice are also things that you've chosen for yourself. It's not like that people don't know that drugs ruin lives. It's not like it's a secret that drugs are illegal and you'll get sent to jail. The area I grew up in is a Rust Belt town in similar circumstances -- maybe with even more drugs and less hope than Cincinnati. So I share my understanding and dismay of the economic situation that community's in. But drugs aren't the answer, and anyone who turns to them is clearly lacking in moral character and common sense.