>"But unfortunately for whatever reason the United States is allergic to empathetic policy, so instead we will just keep going down this road until there is a m

>"But unfortunately for whatever reason the United States is allergic to empathetic policy, so instead we will just keep going down this road until there is a major shift in public sentiment." The US is not a monolith and there are parts of the country which are moving towards such a policy in a de facto way on a local level. Usually by turning a blind eye towards federal enforcement or having the DA deliberately choose not to pursue drug cases against individuals. >"The solution is very simple if you approach policy with empathy for the addicts themselves: harm reduction to prevent overdoses ("clean" opioids and distribution of narcan) with free rehab programs funded by taxpayers." If I'm not mistaken this is basically the policy of San Francisco. Time will tell how effective this kind of policy actually is.