Thomas Szasz had this sussed in 1974. Read his book "Ceremonial Chemistry."
Here's the Amazon blurb: "Responding to the controversy surrounding drug use and drug criminalization, Thomas Szasz suggests that the 'therapeutic state' has overstepped its bounds in labeling certain drugs as 'dangerous' substances and incarcerating drug 'addicts' in order to cure them. Szasz shows that such policies scapegoat certain drugs as well as the persons who sell, buy, or use them; and 'misleadingly pathologize the "drug problem" by defining disapproved drug use as "disease" and efforts to change the behavior as "treatment."' Readers will find in Szasz's arguments a cogent and committed response to a worldwide debate."
It's a good companion piece to his groundbreaking Libertarian treatise, "The Myth of Mental Illness."
"Treatment" is a fucking gold mine for addiction grifters. There was a guy on Joe Rogan (I forget his name and would love it if anyone here can recall it) who did his own expose of methadone clinics and discovered that this form of "treatment" is a revolving door, a scam to maintain addicts in perpetuity while claiming to "rehabilitate" them. It's as true with clinics administering shit like Suboxone and other "cures" that are merely other opioids that aren't normally used for pain treatment.
The truth is that no opiate addict can be coerced into quitting. The desire to withdraw must be genuine and sufficient for success.
Legalizing opiates OTC for 21+ with a simultaneous, serious crackdown on public intoxication and black-market dealing--with meaningful prison time and no plea bargaining--is the obvious solution.
To anticipate one rebuttal, opiates are ridiculously inexpensive, so the black market undercutting of cost that we see with the pot market wouldn't be profitable.
Thomas Szasz had this sussed in 1974. Read his book "Ceremonial Chemistry."
Here's the Amazon blurb: "Responding to the controversy surrounding drug use and drug criminalization, Thomas Szasz suggests that the 'therapeutic state' has overstepped its bounds in labeling certain drugs as 'dangerous' substances and incarcerating drug 'addicts' in order to cure them. Szasz shows that such policies scapegoat certain drugs as well as the persons who sell, buy, or use them; and 'misleadingly pathologize the "drug problem" by defining disapproved drug use as "disease" and efforts to change the behavior as "treatment."' Readers will find in Szasz's arguments a cogent and committed response to a worldwide debate."
It's a good companion piece to his groundbreaking Libertarian treatise, "The Myth of Mental Illness."
"Treatment" is a fucking gold mine for addiction grifters. There was a guy on Joe Rogan (I forget his name and would love it if anyone here can recall it) who did his own expose of methadone clinics and discovered that this form of "treatment" is a revolving door, a scam to maintain addicts in perpetuity while claiming to "rehabilitate" them. It's as true with clinics administering shit like Suboxone and other "cures" that are merely other opioids that aren't normally used for pain treatment.
The truth is that no opiate addict can be coerced into quitting. The desire to withdraw must be genuine and sufficient for success.
Legalizing opiates OTC for 21+ with a simultaneous, serious crackdown on public intoxication and black-market dealing--with meaningful prison time and no plea bargaining--is the obvious solution.
To anticipate one rebuttal, opiates are ridiculously inexpensive, so the black market undercutting of cost that we see with the pot market wouldn't be profitable.
The two names that come to mind are
Carl Hart, a black professor who was pretty pro-drug and had heterodox views back on OG pre-Spotify Rogan
Michael Schellenberger, white guy and more contemporary, lives in California, wrote San Fransicko, also writes about climate hoax stuff