Addiction is a Medical Problem

Most everyone would agree that addiction is a medical problem and should be treated as such. After all there are rehabilitation clinics, twelve step programs, and television shows like “Intervention” that convince us of this fact. However addiction is only treated when a person is willing to admit themselves into a rehabilitation program. If a person is arrested on the street for possession or under the influence of a controlled substance, that person is not checked into a clinic but they are sent to prison. How does this solve the problem of addiction? How does this help keep drugs off of our streets? The answer is simple, it doesn’t.

                Once a person is sent to jail or prison, depending on the severity of the charge, they are given very little treatment for the underlying problem that sent them there in the first place. Their addiction problem is usually ignored and, more often than not, they are left to fend for themselves in prison. Some people require medication to help bring them down from their withdrawal symptoms, but these people are condemned to endure all of the symptoms in full force. These people receive no support from anyone and they are denied the psychological help that may be require as well. One thing an addict can get in prison; however, is the drug that sent him there in the first place. It is no secret that drugs enter our prisons every day. Many law enforcement personnel will admit to this fact. If we not only subject this person to the trials of prison, but subject him to the same problem that landed him in prison in the first place, then what problem are we really solving? How do we expect these people not to fall back into their addiction once they leave prison? They have received no help, support, or education related to their problem. We are not treating these people nor are we preparing them to live a life free from their addiction problems.

                Another problem that an addict encounters in prison is prison life itself. An addict will be subjected to live around rapists, murders, and gang members. All too often an addict is transformed into a gang member in order to survive in prison. Now when the addict leaves prison he is leaving as a hardened gang member. He is now a product of prison life, not a rehabilitation program. We not only make an addict a worse person, but we release him into the public. I would much rather want my tax dollars to be spent on a treatment program for this person than to have my tax dollars spent producing a gang member. I think many of you would agree with me on this point. If there is a greater chance that an addict can be treated and transformed into a productive member of society in a rehab center rather than a prison, then why not take the chance? We would only better the lives of other people and make ourselves safer because of it.

                How does arresting an addict help win the war on drugs? The money has already exchanged hands all the way down the line to the final person. The drug dealer got his money and so did the distributor and the supplier. All that was done was that the addict was punished for being a victim of addiction. When drugs were first being made illegal one of the main supporting reasons was the addiction rate in the country. Our government said, “Look at all these poor addicts, we need to help them by making these addictive drugs illegal”. What happens now is that these same addicts that we wanted to help in the first place get thrown in jail, and their medical problem is ignored.

Are we really helping these people? Are we really making a difference in the war on drugs by throwing them in jail? Absolutely not! We have to find a better way to address this problem, and I would suggest that we first treat people in hospitals rather than condemning them to a prison term.