Why Is It Up to Addicts to Choose to Go to Detox?

Question by Kimbo: Why is it up to addicts to choose to go to detox?
It dosent add up to me. Drug addicts are ADDICTED to illegal drugs. Why send thses people to jail, where they will get no treatment and will likely have acces to drugs while incarcerated? I think when a person is arrested for drug usage, they should be sent to a state funded rehab clinic until they are clean. Oh and no walking out or being thrown out, this is the punishment as well as the cure. That way, hopwfully, some of these people canhave a second chance. Well thats my view anyway.

Best answer:

Answer by Adelle
First of all, detox is a form of medical treatment. Forcing medical treatment on someone is a violation of their right to refuse medical treatment. So, your state-funded forced treatment is a lawsuit waiting to happen that will cost the state even more.

Second, there is no CURE as you stated. It is a lifestyle change. The desire, will, and discipline has to come from within. You cannot force someone to change their life or lifestyle. If that were true, then using your theory means that fat people should be forced to diet against their will. It won’t work.

Third, state finances are already stretched. They do not have unlimited amount of money. They get their paycheck from us in the form of taxes. But we don’t want to pay taxes. We scream when they want to raise taxes. But then we expect full coverage of services in the community from tons of police patrol on the street which means paying for more cops, to small classroom sizes which means paying more teachers, to a full array of social services for people who are poor, or have mental disabilities, or have some other special needs.

And now you want the state to pay to force a drug addict to stop being an addict. NOT POSSIBLE. The state did not make them a drug addict and it is NOT the states responsibility to fix it. People are responsible for their own behavior and MUST be held accountable for those choices. Jail is punishment. Detox treatment is not. If they did something wrong, they belong in jail. Detox should NEVER be viewed as a form of punishment. It is hard enough as it is to get through when you are their by choice, without it being treated like a form of punishment for someone who doesn’t want to be there. I don’t want MY tax money spent on a program that is designed to fix a person’s personal bad choices instead of holding them accountable for those choices and fix their own lives themselves. Such a program would not work anyway because you can’t fix stupid. If a person is stupid enough to get themselves in that position, then they need to suffer the consequences of those decisions and get their own selves out of it.

And, it is a myth, or naive thinking, that all addicts want treatment and don’t want to be an addict. Many enjoy that lifestyle, or they wouldn’t have chosen it for themselves.

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