Talking about environment, I saw a very good quote by a woman named Tine Brubak Jahren, that I have taken the
liberty to translate to English:
"It's odd when it comes to sympathy for drug addicts: Everyone has much sympathy for sexually abused children, children of drug addicts, victims of violence and abuse, people with mental health issues that are not helped by the system. BUT, when they grow up to become dysfunctional adults that use drugs to take away the pain and their problems, then it is suddenly full stop for the sympathy.
Suddenly, they are expected to take charge of their lives and behave like everyone else, and if they can't do that, there is no lack of suggestions such as sending them to desolate islands, forced sterilization or simply locking them up for life."
She makes a great point, that also highlights the absurdity of using fines and prison for addicts. The system essentially punishes them for something the system has predisposed them to.
I agree with the conclusion, but the problem with perception is that no sexually abused child or child of an addictt ever made a choice to be that child. 100% of the time, they’re purely victims. A lot of drug addicts are the same way, but quite a few are also people who enjoyed doing drugs until it got the better of them. They’re not all abused children or mentally ill, some are just drug addicts. The result is that you can be unreservedly sympathetic with abused children, but need a bit of background to feel the same sympathy for an addict.
Now, I’d argue that either way treatment and support is the answer, not jail. I’d also argue that the addicts who were screwed over and over into addiction are enough of a majority that we should give all addicts the benefit of the doubt. However I also understand the perspective of people who have been urned by those addicts who are just selfish assholes, and can’t manage that. They shouldn’t set policy, but they’d have a valid view too.
tl;dr All victims of child abuse are victims, some drug addicts are only victims of their own poor decisions.
"For instance, it is estimated that 50–60% of the variation in risk for alcoholism is accounted for by genetic factors."
Now add this on top of the stuff that affects you growing up you can't control.
Saying, "enjoyed doing drugs until it got the better of them" ignores that whether or not you're going to be driven towards drugs is largely determined before you're even born.
"It's odd when it comes to sympathy for drug addicts: Everyone has much sympathy for sexually abused children, children of drug addicts, victims of violence and abuse, people with mental health issues that are not helped by the system. BUT, when they grow up to become dysfunctional adults that use drugs to take away the pain and their problems, then it is suddenly full stop for the sympathy.
Suddenly, they are expected to take charge of their lives and behave like everyone else, and if they can't do that, there is no lack of suggestions such as sending them to desolate islands, forced sterilization or simply locking them up for life."
She makes a great point, that also highlights the absurdity of using fines and prison for addicts. The system essentially punishes them for something the system has predisposed them to.