Drug use and addiction are complex biopsychosocial phenomena with many causal factors and associated harms. It is to be expected that any effective response wou

Drug use and addiction are complex biopsychosocial phenomena with many causal factors and associated harms. It is to be expected that any effective response would likewise be complex and multifactorial. People living with drug addictions are usually living with a multitude of other problems, many of which would still remain if a magic wand were to cure their addiction instantly. A homeless schizophrenic heroin addict would still be in a dire situation if heroin didn't exist. Drug policy in North America seems to be ideologically fixated both on addiction as a singular problem, and on singular solutions to that problem. Addiction is an important and very hazardous part of someone's life, but it's only one part. Lots of people who live in tents or behave erratically in public aren't addicted to drugs; lots of people who are addicted to drugs don't live in tents or behave erratically in public. Giving someone an adequate and reliable supply of pharmaceutical opioids is quite likely to reduce their risk of overdose if it gets them away from a highly variable supply of very potent synthetic opioids, but thinking that it'll solve all of their problems is pure fantasy. Keeping people alive is a prerequisite to fixing the rest of their life, but nothing more than that.