Pubdate: Fri, 16 Jun 2017
Source: Amherst News (CN NS)
Copyright: TC Media 2017
Contact:  http://www.cumberlandnewsnow.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3379
Author: Walter Jones
Page: 13

HOW TO BEST TREAT SOCIETY'S MOST VULNERABLE?

Two questions: What drug is the most addictive and can give you a
condition that can kill you?

What other drug has the worse withdrawal effects and can destroy your
brain? Answers! No. 1 is nicotine. It is so addictive because no
matter how much you ingest your body still craves more and as it
leaves your body the craving gets more intense.

Over time it can cause lung disease. Answer No. 2 is alcohol/ Longtime
excessive use can lead to brain damage. It even has a name - Korsakoff
Syndrome. You can also die from the DTs if you go cold turkey and are
not under a doctors care.

Here's the kicker: they are both legal. We are soon to have another
legal drug in cannabis. The government states this is to get criminals
out of the business. Sounds reasonable to me.

So why stop at cannabis? There are criminals out there selling much
more dangerous drugs and by the same logic we can cut off their market
by allowing addicts to purchase legally. Tax the purchases and use the
money to treat the addicts.

Criminals do not just sell their product, they create more customers
by getting more people addicted. Remove the profit and there is no
incentive to get more people addicted.

People who are already addicted need treatment, but it is very hard to
get them treated, when their world revolves around how to get the next
fix.

Remove that problem and you also lower the crime rate. The war on
drugs is a joke and as for the argument that it is immoral to sell
these addictive drugs to people, well, look at the two that are now
legal.

How much success are we likely to have with people who will willingly
put something into their body that they know could kill them? Opiate
addiction is now doing that. You have to be under a lot of pressure to
willing take that risk.

Remove that pressure, put money into getting people off drugs and we
might have some success. While we as a society feel that everyone
should be a productive member of society, that will never be the case.
There will always be those who do not wish to contribute and those who
are not able.

Remember, a government is judged by the way it treaties its most
vulnerable citizens.
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MAP posted-by: Matt