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> I think helping people who've become addicted is good, but these aren't things that should be legal and accessible for people to start using. When addictive
by tcj_phx 9y ago
> I think helping people who've become addicted is good, but these aren't things that should be legal and accessible for people to start using.
When addictive substances are illegal they're more accessible than when they're managed appropriately.
Johann Hari tells in Chasing the Scream about a city in the UK that used to have a legal heroin program. Addiction rates were a fraction of the rate of a nearby city with similar economic prospects. The difference was that the addicts who lived under prohibition had to advertise to their friends to support their habit.
Patients who could get what they needed from the NHS had no need to promote heroin/cocaine/etc to their friends.