Doctors are already fighting the good fight every day -- carrying the fire (the vast majority, at least). I have always mostly lived in a liberal bubble and over my life I'd say 90% of the people I have interacted with often over a long period were liberal, and this extends to 90% of my extended family too. Bubbled in all the way. All of these physicians in my bubbles throughout life have mostly fit the liberal label (except maybe fiscally) and would be more than happy with treating drug addiction like a health problem. And lots already do! Depends on the city, of course.
Things like "ending the war on drugs" are simply not on your average doctors' mind in the day to day (in my experience). They have other stuff to do, like maybe save a life or two, finish that big paper on immortality or w/e, and they simply go right ahead being doctors, knowing in the back of their mind they are largely "above" the drug war anyway, since they can and do dole out narcotics constantly.
To my dad, an 80mg oxycontin (the old ones, the holy grail of opiate pill abuse) lost its status as a "ooooh, awwww, look at this neat pill" thing probably within 60 seconds of becoming a doctor (that's a guess). My mom was/is a psychologist (retired) and doled out narcotic tranquilizers left and right as well (though at the VA, so she got left alone). It happens to pharmacists too, even a pharmacy tech friend of mine would go "meh" at a 1500 count bottle of perc 30s.
The drugs just become part of the day to day like, for lots of HN readers and myself at least, working on tens of millions of dollars with of computing infrastructure is business as usual.
I think the access to narcotics and constant distribution and "above it" feeling is relevant to why I think doctors won't be leading the anti-war on drugs movement. I don't know for sure about many other than my parents and a few others, but I'm guessing they would all end the war on drugs tomorrow and treat it as a health issue if they knew how to do it without making things infinitely worse. And I'd venture to say most doctors I've known over my (liberal-bubbled) life would agree without much thought put into it -- if they aren't already in some small (or big) way.
Doctors are already fighting the good fight every day -- carrying the fire (the vast majority, at least). I have always mostly lived in a liberal bubble and over my life I'd say 90% of the people I have interacted with often over a long period were liberal, and this extends to 90% of my extended family too. Bubbled in all the way. All of these physicians in my bubbles throughout life have mostly fit the liberal label (except maybe fiscally) and would be more than happy with treating drug addiction like a health problem. And lots already do! Depends on the city, of course.
Things like "ending the war on drugs" are simply not on your average doctors' mind in the day to day (in my experience). They have other stuff to do, like maybe save a life or two, finish that big paper on immortality or w/e, and they simply go right ahead being doctors, knowing in the back of their mind they are largely "above" the drug war anyway, since they can and do dole out narcotics constantly.
To my dad, an 80mg oxycontin (the old ones, the holy grail of opiate pill abuse) lost its status as a "ooooh, awwww, look at this neat pill" thing probably within 60 seconds of becoming a doctor (that's a guess). My mom was/is a psychologist (retired) and doled out narcotic tranquilizers left and right as well (though at the VA, so she got left alone). It happens to pharmacists too, even a pharmacy tech friend of mine would go "meh" at a 1500 count bottle of perc 30s.
The drugs just become part of the day to day like, for lots of HN readers and myself at least, working on tens of millions of dollars with of computing infrastructure is business as usual.
I think the access to narcotics and constant distribution and "above it" feeling is relevant to why I think doctors won't be leading the anti-war on drugs movement. I don't know for sure about many other than my parents and a few others, but I'm guessing they would all end the war on drugs tomorrow and treat it as a health issue if they knew how to do it without making things infinitely worse. And I'd venture to say most doctors I've known over my (liberal-bubbled) life would agree without much thought put into it -- if they aren't already in some small (or big) way.