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Should we put people in jail for obesity, smoking addiction or drinking addiction? The societal costs of these diseases is bigger than any of the illegal drugs
by Isinlor 4y ago
Should we put people in jail for obesity, smoking addiction or drinking addiction?
The societal costs of these diseases is bigger than any of the illegal drugs.
Handling of ill people should be the job of the health care system, not punitive system.
- jimbob45 4y agoThe logic is that these hard drugs are so addictive that their users cannot stop themselves from committing crimes to acquire more of the hard drugs. Fat-rich food, cigarettes, and alcohol are several orders of magnitude less addictive than the hard drugs we're talking about. I think you're making a false equivalence here.
- Isinlor 4y agoThey can stop themselves, but they need help with quitting addiction, not punishment for their illness. Also, alcohol is one of the worst drugs, but it is legal. > In the early 2000s, the monetary cost of alcohol-related crime in the United States alone has been estimated at over $205 billion, more than twice the economic cost of all other drug-related crimes. > Alcohol is implicated in one quarter of all homicides globally. > A report released in 2001 showed that 80% of violent crime committed by young people in Estonia has been linked to alcohol abuse. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcohol-related_crime https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcohol-related_crime https://web.archive.org/web/20140504141105/http://www.who.int/bulletin/volumes/88/9/10-010910/en/ https://web.archive.org/web/20140504141105/http://www.who.in...
- hydrok9 4y agoHm, orders of magnitude less addictive sure, but still extremely difficult for people to stop (especially long-term), and very damaging to their own life and taxing on health systems.