Quote:
Originally Posted by Sliver
I don't get the hesitation about the government handing out drugs. If it's cheaper than using healthcare and emergency services to deal with ODs, and the drugs are safer so there are fewer ODs in the first place, where's your concern? If it's about tax dollars, it seems to me the goal of this program is to reduce the spend and keep people safer and allow our resources to be used elsewhere. What's the downside?
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Speaking solely for myself...it feels like the government is using 'my' money to reward bad/addictive behavior. I realize that it's a 'me' issue, and that this is probably one of the better options to actually help these people.
I mean, I've been told all my life that drugs are bad. I've been through almost all of the 'war on drugs'. I've grown up through the "Just Say No" campaign. I've been told my entire life that if you are a drug addict, you are a bad person and it's your fault and you should feel bad about it.
And now, after 4.5 decades of that, the government is like "Nope, we've changed our minds. Let's give these addicts their drugs". So there's a part of me that's like "So now we're giving out free drugs? I've been told my entire life drugs are bad, and we're GIVING them out now? WTF?" Most of me realizes that that part of me is more hindbrain, but it's still there.
I realize that it's a sort of knee-jerk reaction in me, and I'm dealing with it. But that doesn't change how it feels right now. It kind of feels like I've spent my entire life being the 'good, responsible' child, and now my parents are asking me to loan my irresponsible ne'er-do-well brother MORE money, due to his bad decisions.