Should drug addicts be treated as criminals?

Or victims or s something else

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No. They are victims. If they harm other people then that's the conduct that should be criminalised, not the addiction itself.

Original post by CHANELDIAMONDS

Yes. Not only are they harming themselves but harming others. It’s highly addictive and it makes people wanna do reckless things. THEY ARE CRIMINALS

Do you think labelling addicts as criminals and putting them i jail makes it better or worse for them in terms of stopping drugs? Particularly when they’re released

Reply 4

username2950448

Original post by CHANELDIAMONDS

Yes. Not only are they harming themselves but harming others. It’s highly addictive and it makes people wanna do reckless things. THEY ARE CRIMINALS

What's the relevance of saying that drugs are "highly addictive" when the thread is about drug addicts...?

Writing in caps doesn't make your terribly reasoned points any more convincing.

(edited 4 years ago)

Reply 5

Fermion.

I don’t think drug addicts are criminals. They need help.

Reply 6

gjd800

The Portuguese started treating it as a public health issue rather than a criminal issue years ago. i'd quite like to see the stats, but anecdotally crime reduced in some pretty badly affected areas (including a couple where I used to live) when treatment became the norm rather than criminality.

Reply 7

username3890778

Original post by steamed-hams

Do you think labelling addicts as criminals and putting them i jail makes it better or worse for them in terms of stopping drugs? Particularly when they’re released

no, they definitely need help but i'm talking about the drug dealers that go overboard and use drugs that make them kill people and all of that

Reply 8

username3890778

Original post by Palmyra

What's the relevance of saying that drugs are "highly addictive" when the thread is about drug addicts...?

Writing in caps doesn't make your terribly reasoned points any more convincing.

Ask me if i care what Palmyra thinks?...

Reply 9

username2950448

Original post by CHANELDIAMONDS

no, they definitely need help but i'm talking about the drug dealers that go overboard and use drugs that make them kill people and all of that

Which drugs make people kill?

What % of drug addicts kill people?

Why are you using that extremely small % of drug addicts to justify treating drug addicts as a whole as criminals ("THEY ARE CRIMINALS")?

Reply 10

username3890778

Original post by Palmyra

if you wanted to know what drug addicts i'm talking about then you could've just asked nicely. i know drugs make you go crazy and do things that your usual self wouldn't do. makes you aggressive. but really, they just need tons of help.

Reply 11

Pathway

They're not criminals, they need help. Addiction can be absolutely devastating, but this is exactly why they need help, to prevent that from happening. Not to get demonised.

Reply 12

username2950448

Original post by CHANELDIAMONDS

Progress...

You didn't answer my questions.

The point is that hardly any drug addicts kill people thus you are not justified in generalising all drug addicts as murderers.

Clearly, if some drug addicts kill people then they are criminals (homicide), but that's not what the OP asked. To make it simpler for you: should drug addicts who don't commit crimes be treated as criminals or as victims?

Reply 13

Fermion.

Maybe if there was a better support system in place with regards to mental health they wouldn’t harm themselves. They’re not criminals. The system just failed them.

Original post by CHANELDIAMONDS

Yes. Not only are they harming themselves but harming others. It’s highly addictive and it makes people wanna do reckless things. THEY ARE CRIMINALS

Reply 14

username3890778

Original post by Palmyra

i'm not generalising, for gods sake.

hardly? there are TONS. Maybe not here but in america, there sure are.

no smh. but I'm just talking about the ones that use it to kill. cause like i said, it changes people and a lot of the times, for the worse. they need tons and tons of help but we can't wait until they do something absolutely horrible to arrest them? its illegal for a reason

(edited 4 years ago)

Reply 15

username3890778

Original post by Fermion.

Maybe if there was a better support system in place with regards to mental health they wouldn’t harm themselves. They’re not criminals. The system just failed them.

Some people are perfectly fine, they just want to follow the crowd and do drugs. They need help of course. And if they do get arrested, they shouldn't be treated like how murderers do and they shouldn't be put in a prison with those sort of people. First, they will obviously need intense therapy and medication.

Reply 16

awkwardshortguy

Let's phrase it another way:

Should addicts be treated as criminal drugs?

Reply 17

BlueSoybean

what is their crime??

I see them as victims in need of help

Reply 18

bones-mccoy

Original post by steamed-hams

Do you think labelling addicts as criminals and putting them i jail makes it better or worse for them in terms of stopping drugs? Particularly when they’re released

Of course not. Addicts aren't criminals, they haven't broken any laws. Prison is not the place for drug addicts, prisons do not have the resources, staff or healthcare to help addicts and sending those struggling with addiction into prison only perpetuates a stigma that already makes people ashamed to seek help in the first place.