RE: Why should my hard earned money go to those less fortunate?
December 11, 2016 at 4:47 am
(This post was last modified: December 11, 2016 at 4:50 am by Thumpalumpacus.)
(December 11, 2016 at 2:05 am)Tiberius Wrote: If you take away their welfare you aren't going to stop them doing drugs, which means they'll be in an even worse financial situation.
And gosh, I wonder what they'll be doing at that point to score the next fix?
This is exactly how criminalizing drugs feeds the broader crime rate.
(December 11, 2016 at 2:05 am)Tiberius Wrote: Get them off the drugs by actually helping them rather than punishing them.
I'd be willing to bet that the cure for drugs is a Hell of a lot cheaper than the War on Drugs ™. To be fair, many addicts simply won't come out the other side of the program clean and sober; addiction is a harsh taskmaster. But it seems to me to be 1) more financially responsible (on the social level) to focus on intervention rather than punitive justice, considering that it costs about $31,000 on average to incarcerate a convict for a year, and 2) will produce more for society, given that recovering addicts without a prison record have more chances to pay back, in real terms, the debt they've incurred (financial or moral, take your pick) to society for its help in rescuing their live. On a pragmatic as well as moral level, supporting their recovery is IMO the right thing to do.
