>Sure, I also think the way alcohol is treated is problematic too! This article was about Heroin, though. It really isn't though. Hart's entire thesis is that

>Sure, I also think the way alcohol is treated is problematic too! This article was about Heroin, though. It really isn't though. Hart's entire thesis is that drugs like heroin are no different than alcohol. The economic damage and emotional brainwashing from 50 years of the racialized war on drugs has ingrained to people's minds that they are somehow different, but they objectively are not. And if we live in a society where it is socially acceptable to be a recreational alcohol user, there is simply no reason other than racism or classism to think that recreational heroin use is not an equally valid way to destress. >To be honest, I bet my brother in law would have said the same thing about himself -- he is "fulfilling all of his obligations", after all! He did work, aside from periods when he was homeless/unable to hold down steady work/keep himself from spending literally all of his income on drugs. But, the last few years, he has been working and had an apartment, all while using. And again, this is literally no different from an alcoholic. The entire point is that the substance is not the issue. Addiction is the issue. And addiction stems from factors that are entirely unrelated to the substance itself. Focusing on the substance is like focusing on cheeseburgers as the cause of obesity in our society; it is a profoundly more complex issue than that, and banning cheeseburgers or putting people in jail for eating cheeseburgers will not solve it.