[willio58]

I know there’s mixed feelings about this for many reasons but I think fundamentally this is the right step. Drugs are not the problem, mental health and lack of social services is. If we criminalize drugs, we’re throwing people who are struggling into prison which only exacerbates their problems.

[culopatin]

I know how bad this sounds and I agree that there should be something better, but I’ve heard many times from users that hit awareness that the only way they would get clean is if they went to jail. Now they’ll never get clean.

[willio58]

Right now we rely on people hitting “rock bottom” and hoping they snap themselves out of the addiction cycle at that point. The sad truth is the majority of people cruise through rock bottom and eventually end up dead. We need to support people before they get there and use therapy when people feel bored getting high all the time. Prisons are a massive cost to the tax payer already, a wholly alternative system for drug addicts could and should be created.

[stevage]

Well they might be clean for a bit while in jail. It's rarely a long term solution though.

[mattpallissard]

> Drugs are not the problem, mental health and lack of social services is.

Why can't both be the problem? There are plenty of people who don't have mental issues that take drugs recreationally and do dumb shit.

There are also people who seriously need help.

I don't see why we can't handle both of those issues separately.