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I mean if you propose we just kill addicts it might be effective in some cold, economic sense, but it sure would be great not to do that. I don’t know why you’d

I mean if you propose we just kill addicts it might be effective in some cold, economic sense, but it sure would be great not to do that. I don’t know why you’d use china as an example unless thats what you’re suggesting. Say we put someone in prison then treat them for drug use and it works. This person is cured, found jesus, and will never touch another drug in their life. Why would you still keep them in prison? They’d have been sentenced to a time in prison regardless. Why? Would you propose a system of early release for cured drug offenders?

seanmcdirmid 3y ago
That wasn’t the point. Some of addicts in China are dying, but given the lack of a social safety net at all, most are just willing not to go there. Here in the USA, you can try fent with the local idea that mom, dad, or maybe society, will put you back together. In China, none of that will happen, your chances of ruining your life are obviously high, so doing drugs isn’t really an option. But we can’t really go there as a western country, so we try to socially reduce the consequences of drug use: not only are we not going to throw you in jail, but we are going to make sure you don’t starve/freeze to death and we will even try to cure you (even if we are going to fail at that most of the time). If we had drug treatment in prison that worked, we would be horribly stupid not to just lean in on that. I’m totally for “go to prison but get out of you get clean.” Who wouldn’t?
- BriggyDwiggs42 3y ago
  How do you know that drug use is so much more rare in China? Wouldn’t this system allow it to be equally common but relegated to the shadows? Just based on what I’ve heard from a friend who grew up there, people in China go through an extremely competitive, difficult schooling to obtain a position in an extremely competitive, brutal workspace and have high rates of undiagnosed mental illness as a result. I’d be willing to bet a lot of them secretly use drugs to cope. Do you think it’s the fact that people will be able to put you back together in the USA that gets people into it? I’d have thought they get into drugs young, when they don’t think it’s dangerous (or like that it is) then get addicted and look for things to keep getting that high on. Only other group that comes to mind is veterans coping with ptsd and people who got put on prescription painkillers, though I’m sure there are others I’m not considering. If I’m mistaken please inform me.

seanmcdirmid 3y ago

That wasn’t the point. Some of addicts in China are dying, but given the lack of a social safety net at all, most are just willing not to go there. Here in the USA, you can try fent with the local idea that mom, dad, or maybe society, will put you back together. In China, none of that will happen, your chances of ruining your life are obviously high, so doing drugs isn’t really an option. But we can’t really go there as a western country, so we try to socially reduce the consequences of drug use: not only are we not going to throw you in jail, but we are going to make sure you don’t starve/freeze to death and we will even try to cure you (even if we are going to fail at that most of the time). If we had drug treatment in prison that worked, we would be horribly stupid not to just lean in on that. I’m totally for “go to prison but get out of you get clean.” Who wouldn’t?

BriggyDwiggs42 3y ago
How do you know that drug use is so much more rare in China? Wouldn’t this system allow it to be equally common but relegated to the shadows? Just based on what I’ve heard from a friend who grew up there, people in China go through an extremely competitive, difficult schooling to obtain a position in an extremely competitive, brutal workspace and have high rates of undiagnosed mental illness as a result. I’d be willing to bet a lot of them secretly use drugs to cope. Do you think it’s the fact that people will be able to put you back together in the USA that gets people into it? I’d have thought they get into drugs young, when they don’t think it’s dangerous (or like that it is) then get addicted and look for things to keep getting that high on. Only other group that comes to mind is veterans coping with ptsd and people who got put on prescription painkillers, though I’m sure there are others I’m not considering. If I’m mistaken please inform me.