At 03:47 AM 8/29/97 +0200, Alex Le Heux wrote:
Most of them do not like the situation they're in. Try _really_ talking to some of them. The problem is that by the time they're outcasts from society, the only thing left in life that'll take away the pain (physical pain as well, from withdrawel) is the drug. Make these people feel part of society again, and they suddenly gain a lot of strength. Enough strength in many cases to enable them to give up the drugs or at least lower their consumption to a level where they can actually function again.
I must agree with Alex on this one. Why a person became addicted is irrelevant. They are addicted and the question for the rest of us must become "how can we minimize the impact their addiction has on us". It has been shown that people usually grow out of Heroin addiction after time. The non-black market cost of their addiction is probably less than a dollar per day. The cost they impose on society when having to support their habit through the black market is much higher. Even without involving government, it would be trivial to raise the funds from donations to keep all addicts supplied with their drugs until such time that they are capable to give up the drugs entirely. BTW, I just found out that William S. Burroughs died. No, he didn't grow out of it an remained an Heroin addict until his death of old age. He must have been well into his 80's. And he was no burden on society. The royalties from his works could have fed even the most severe addiction. His writings influenced me in a big way during my youth. [This may be off-topic, but if there is any list on which people might care about the death a revolutionary like Burroughs, it is Cypherpunks]. --Lucky Green <shamrock@netcom.com> PGP encrypted mail preferred. DES is dead! Please join in breaking RC5-56. http://rc5.distributed.net/