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by astura 3203 days ago
If someone replaces a drug that's doing them very serious harm with a drug that doesn't do them harm, I don't see the problem.[1] I take doctor prescribed medication daily that I could live without but it significantly increases my quality of life, I don't see a difference between me and a person who is on methadone but otherwise well in life - has job, money, clothes, friends, community, etc.

[1] Xanax has a lot of problems with long term use though, so Xanax, specifically, would likely not be a good candidate.

My MIL replaced alcohol and cocaine addictions with a coffee addiction. It's been over a decade and she doesn't seem to have any significant negative outcomes with the coffee and coffee is cheap and readily available almost everywhere. From what I see, I believe the coffee is more of a psychological crutch for her - but it's not harming her.