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I saw a short news report (over a decade ago) about a Swiss heroin addict who daily attended a clinic to be given heroin (not methadone) for free (the cost of l
by barking 13y ago
I saw a short news report (over a decade ago) about a Swiss heroin addict who daily attended a clinic to be given heroin (not methadone) for free (the cost of legally available heroin would be minimal).
She was able to hold down a job, pay rent and had no need to beg or commit crime to fund the habit.
She also could afford to eat properly and was no longer at risk of acquiring disease through contaminated drugs, dirty needles or prostitution.
Also methadone is an absolute destroyer of teeth not least because of the slowness to provide a sugar free variety.
It's also highly addictive in its own right I believe.
- mikeash 13y agoI think a lot of problems in the world can come down to whether you try to force people to act in an ideal fashion, or whether you try to deal with people as they are. Drug policy certainly qualifies, anyway. From the latter perspective, your heroin addict is a massive success story. She's contributing to society instead of being a burden, and the cost is low. From the former perspective, this is a terrible story. You're supporting drug addiction! The former perspective rarely works, but it's extremely common, on subjects ranging from drugs to crime to tax policy to education. It is IMO a cop-out, where you simply rely on vague principles rather than actually applying thought and study.