"If drug addiction is perceived as a symptom of a sick society, suddenly the logic of treating it is completely different."
Couldn't agree more (see my post elsewhere in this thread). I think the campaign against addicts (drug war) was indeed started from the 'isn't useful to capitalist society' angle, but now addicts, at least in the US but I'm sure pretty much everywhere else, are actually what bring massive profits to capitalist society through our government's prosecution and persecution of them. While it probably was not the intended result for most prohibitioners when they started the drug war, the war itself has created a whole new multi-billion dollar industry and front for many capitalists, especially the manufacturers of weapons, law enforcement, etc.
Society, at least in the US, refuses to look at itself as the source of the problem because it enjoys the problem. Much of society has benefitted from persecuting and prosecuting drug addicts and the inevitable supply lines that are caused by the existence of a black market. Police, military, politicians, and other beneficiaries of all these billions (trillions over time) refuse to ever acknowledge there is a problem because that would mean the end of their nice perks, the end of the pina colada machines in the police station, the end of the fun SWAT raids, the end of selling so many assault rifles, tanks, and other death equipment that doesn't belong in civilian police hands.
Damn straight addiction would be treated differently if it was seen as what it really is: a symptom of an incredibly sick society that no longer cares about its members and values profits above all else, including all human life, even that of its own citizens.
Couldn't agree more (see my post elsewhere in this thread). I think the campaign against addicts (drug war) was indeed started from the 'isn't useful to capitalist society' angle, but now addicts, at least in the US but I'm sure pretty much everywhere else, are actually what bring massive profits to capitalist society through our government's prosecution and persecution of them. While it probably was not the intended result for most prohibitioners when they started the drug war, the war itself has created a whole new multi-billion dollar industry and front for many capitalists, especially the manufacturers of weapons, law enforcement, etc.
Society, at least in the US, refuses to look at itself as the source of the problem because it enjoys the problem. Much of society has benefitted from persecuting and prosecuting drug addicts and the inevitable supply lines that are caused by the existence of a black market. Police, military, politicians, and other beneficiaries of all these billions (trillions over time) refuse to ever acknowledge there is a problem because that would mean the end of their nice perks, the end of the pina colada machines in the police station, the end of the fun SWAT raids, the end of selling so many assault rifles, tanks, and other death equipment that doesn't belong in civilian police hands.
Damn straight addiction would be treated differently if it was seen as what it really is: a symptom of an incredibly sick society that no longer cares about its members and values profits above all else, including all human life, even that of its own citizens.