From a former cop. (A former cop is a good cop) This is an - TopicsExpress

From a former cop. (A former cop is a good cop) This is an outstanding editorial about heroin, not its addictive power and sad social impact. We all know some of us first-hand, others the horrifying tales that many Hollywood movies and TV shows have often detailed. Instead, this man takes a far different look at the problem, and the pointlessness of a policy of prohibition and zero tolerance. Those policies only enrich private prison industrial expansion, a far more sinister epidemic. Instead of puritanical and ethical stances on the most high of high grounds, why dont we take a much more enlightened approach, as we have seen that the medical professional world has now been doing just that in regards to treating opiate/opioid addiction and their approach is showing some outstanding results! The new treatment programs that wouldve been and were chastised as ridiculous a decade and a half ago, are very successful and giving rise to hope in a once hopeless subject. Instead of ostracizing people for their poor choices and the poor choices made by other doctors, we ought to help, not punish these poor people. I am one myself, and living proof that unorthodox methods and critical analysis used in diagnosing and treating complex issues like addiction, we can save people so that they may go on to be socially productive. That contribution of even one soul is unmeasurable, but guaranteed to be far more beneficial than throwing them in a hole for the profits of a few prison barons. This is worth at least a glance.