Can we please stop devaluing the lives of addicts and just treat them with proven science?

[antigone382]

27. Yeah, it's hideous, and we wouldn't accept it for very many other health conditions.

And so much of the problem (not all by a long shot) has to do with the lack of opportunity or hope I see around me. I come from a hideously poor and unhealthy part of the country, and the kids get stereotyped and ostracized on top of the barriers they are already trying to overcome. When young dreams die (or never form to start with) what is there except escape? Then you add a record to all of that, and whatever sliver of hope they may have had to make something of themselves is gone, maybe forever.

I don't mean to say that all addiction is related to poverty and oppression, because I know sometimes it isn't, and a wealthy addict is still someone who deserves compassion and individualized treatment. But there's definitely a link. When everything in someone's life confirms that they are worthless and there is no chance for them, of course they are going to engage in temporarily pleasurable self-destruction. What else is there?