7 ms·

For obvious reasons, I think many people would be against the suggestion that if more people were suffering from life-destroying drug addiction, a turning point

by daenz 7y ago

For obvious reasons, I think many people would be against the suggestion that if more people were suffering from life-destroying drug addiction, a turning point would be reached and the problem would be solved faster. Surely there is a way to push back the spread of drugs and addiction, without letting it overtake society first.

smt88 7y ago
Democracies often resist legislation that is proactive and instead react to a disaster
- xenospn 7y ago
  Same goes for individuals. How many people wait until they get a heart attack before they change their diet or quit smoking?
rdl 7y ago
It isn't just numbers. It has to be people who voters/others in power empathize with. The "crack epidemic" of the 80s never would have achieved that. Opiate addiction sort of approaches it (definitely does in some states).
xfitm3 7y ago
> Surely there is a way to push back the spread of drugs and addiction, without letting it overtake society first. Uneducated comment.
- dang 7y ago
  Maybe so, but please don't respond with a worse comment. If you know more, share some of what you know so the rest of us can learn. Please don't break the guidelines. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
Ensorceled 7y ago
People became more sympathetic to LGBTQ issues when people started coming out of the closet and they learned that their neighbours, cousins, nieces and nephews were being prevented from marrying their loved ones. We didn't need to "turn more people gay" to accomplish this. Similarly, we need to raise the visibility and openness of dealing with drug addiction, to come out of the closet so to speak, not increase drug addicted people.
- jacquesm 7y ago
  Unfortunately those in power are not nearly as badly affected by the drug epidemic as the poorer people. Even if they develop a habit or some complication related to it they will have access to the best care and treatment options. So there is very little cost to being 'tough on drugs' until the effects are also felt at all layers of society. Portugal, a country that is a lot more relaxed about many things than the USA had a much easier time to acknowledge this. The 'war on drugs' will never be won, and the victims are predominantly poor. In the meantime, American jails are overflowing with people who should have been helped, not incarcerated.
  - TheOtherHobbes 7y ago
    Some of those in power benefit from keeping drugs criminalised. See for example the way that possession of crack cocaine - used on the street - carries much heavier sentences than powder cocaine, used by the middle classes. And the way large parts of the US jail system are run as a for-profit work camp. This results in miscarriages of justice, unjustifiably long sentences for trivial possession, and outright corruption. This is not an unfortunate accident. It's motivated partly by greed, partly by class violence, and partly by racism. Most Western countries don't quite have the culture of political extremism needed to create these conditions. Meanwhile the murky story of CIA links to drug smuggling is a different topic altogether. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allegations_of_CIA_drug_trafficking https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allegations_of_CIA_drug_traffi...
    - icebraining 7y ago
andrei_says_ 7y ago
An excellent way to push against addiction is to address the reasons for addiction. As Dr. Gabor Mate, who has spent a decade working with addiction and written extensively about it says: don’t ask why the addiction, ask why the pain. Alcohol and other drugs are the means of addiction and in no way the cause of it. I recommend Tim Ferris’ interview with Gabor Mate for a great honest look into the causes and mechanisms of addiction. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=H9B5mYfBPlY https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=H9B5mYfBPlY

by daenz 7y ago

smt88 7y ago

Democracies often resist legislation that is proactive and instead react to a disaster

xenospn 7y ago
Same goes for individuals. How many people wait until they get a heart attack before they change their diet or quit smoking?

rdl 7y ago

It isn't just numbers. It has to be people who voters/others in power empathize with. The "crack epidemic" of the 80s never would have achieved that. Opiate addiction sort of approaches it (definitely does in some states).

xfitm3 7y ago

> Surely there is a way to push back the spread of drugs and addiction, without letting it overtake society first. Uneducated comment.

dang 7y ago
Maybe so, but please don't respond with a worse comment. If you know more, share some of what you know so the rest of us can learn. Please don't break the guidelines. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

Ensorceled 7y ago

People became more sympathetic to LGBTQ issues when people started coming out of the closet and they learned that their neighbours, cousins, nieces and nephews were being prevented from marrying their loved ones. We didn't need to "turn more people gay" to accomplish this. Similarly, we need to raise the visibility and openness of dealing with drug addiction, to come out of the closet so to speak, not increase drug addicted people.

jacquesm 7y ago
Unfortunately those in power are not nearly as badly affected by the drug epidemic as the poorer people. Even if they develop a habit or some complication related to it they will have access to the best care and treatment options. So there is very little cost to being 'tough on drugs' until the effects are also felt at all layers of society. Portugal, a country that is a lot more relaxed about many things than the USA had a much easier time to acknowledge this. The 'war on drugs' will never be won, and the victims are predominantly poor. In the meantime, American jails are overflowing with people who should have been helped, not incarcerated.
- TheOtherHobbes 7y ago
  Some of those in power benefit from keeping drugs criminalised. See for example the way that possession of crack cocaine - used on the street - carries much heavier sentences than powder cocaine, used by the middle classes. And the way large parts of the US jail system are run as a for-profit work camp. This results in miscarriages of justice, unjustifiably long sentences for trivial possession, and outright corruption. This is not an unfortunate accident. It's motivated partly by greed, partly by class violence, and partly by racism. Most Western countries don't quite have the culture of political extremism needed to create these conditions. Meanwhile the murky story of CIA links to drug smuggling is a different topic altogether. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allegations_of_CIA_drug_trafficking https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allegations_of_CIA_drug_traffi...
  - icebraining 7y ago

andrei_says_ 7y ago

An excellent way to push against addiction is to address the reasons for addiction. As Dr. Gabor Mate, who has spent a decade working with addiction and written extensively about it says: don’t ask why the addiction, ask why the pain. Alcohol and other drugs are the means of addiction and in no way the cause of it. I recommend Tim Ferris’ interview with Gabor Mate for a great honest look into the causes and mechanisms of addiction. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=H9B5mYfBPlY https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=H9B5mYfBPlY