In recent times I have seen increased calls for illicit drug-taking to be treated as a health issue rather than a criminal matter.
In which case, should users, and especially dealers, and those around them, be treated like potential Covid-19 spreaders?
Asking for a friend.
2 comments:
They tried this in Liverpool, Zurich and Portugal. Rates of use went down, crime went down, the remaining users held down jobs, the pushers moved away and several STD rates went down as well. Plus, it was cheaper for the government to provide and monitor the users than to deal with them the 'usual' way.
It is interesting that the 'If you don't follow the rules on covid you have blood on your hands and don't deserve treatment' principle doesn't seem to apply to other activities that affect ones health - drug taking as you say and gay sex (in the case of HIV susceptibility). After all the laws on drugs are considerably more harsh and clear than those that control people's behaviour surrounding covid, so presumably it will be fine for someone to call for an overdosinging drug addict to be refused treatment by the NHS, as some people have called for 'covid deniers' to be so treated? After all they both ended up with health problems through breaking the law, so why should society treat them?
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