I mostly agree with you, but observe that public drug abuse is already de facto decriminalized in our major cities. Clearly decriminalization is no magic bullet

I mostly agree with you, but observe that public drug abuse is already de facto decriminalized in our major cities. Clearly decriminalization is no magic bullet either. I don’t propose any kind of one size fits all solution because I don’t think any such thing exists. I do think that if there is a policy solution, it will necessarily involve demand reduction[1], social services, and yes in some cases putting addicts into some kind of custodial managed living environment. All of that being tailored to the needs and resources of each particular locale. Practically speaking those treatment centers be a jail or an involuntary hospital, but ideally it would look a lot more like a nice rehab facility with incentives for fostering recovery. Edit: [1] I intentionally left out supply reduction, because I think we have sufficient evidence that it is impracticable.