Well I don't think that statement was meant to be taken literally - you don't just sentence someone to 4 years of hospital instead of 4 years of prison. It's mo

Well I don't think that statement was meant to be taken literally - you don't just sentence someone to 4 years of hospital instead of 4 years of prison. It's more that you provide support for anyone with drug problems whether that is counselling, support for kicking the habit, replacement drugs on prescription (methadone or what have you) clean needles and needle exchanges. We should be doing this anyway for the sake of treating people humanely instead of cruelly. The fact that it'd probably be cheaper and would result in more productive, healthy citizens is just a pleasant side-effect.