If we gave drug takers harsh sentences in solitary confinement, then possibly there wouldn't be so many addicts.
Don't be ridiculous. You can't cure an illness by locking people away. At best you may send them on an extreme detox, sometimes with severe consequences like death depending on the addiction, alcohol being one of them, if not given something to help wean them off. But as was said in a later post one can easily end up back in the same situation and on that park bench. How else is someone that is homeless supposed to survive. What you say is a waste of money in supporting them would work out not only cheaper but more beneficial than this solution by locking people up. They will most likely end up addicted to spice in prison and in a worse state when released.
Many addicts out there, internet addicts. shopaholics, alcoholism, other drug addiction etc etc Some people are even addicted to sex. Addiction comes in many forms.
I know of someone who's son was persuaded by peer group pressure to start smoking marijuana aged 14 eventually progressing to heroin and other substances
It's also important to know that not all drugs lead to using harder drugs. It's not like one thing leads to another. Plenty of Rastafarians out there that only smoke Sensi as part of their religion and nothing else.
I am not defending bad behaviour as a result of alcohol, but I think you will find serious crime is very often a result of drugs, whereas minor crime is more likely to be as a result of alcohol
Correct and this is also why we need to at least decriminalise all drugs and better still supply them to those in need. Think of the extent that this market runs too, from you street dealer or next door neighbour, to gang warfare, knife and gun crime, murder, money laundering and racketeering. There are heroin addicts in Amsterdam who will go to a centre in the morning get clean needles, clean heroin, medicate themselves in a safe environment and off to work they go for the day just like anyone else in society. It's mostly the impurities in street drugs that are doing the damage which often gets them so screwed up and not able work. You could think of it like going to the pub in the morning for a quick pint before work.
It's also proven to cause extreme paranoia
Which is brought about by the legal situation. It's far easier for someone to grow Skunk in the loft or cupboard and spray glass silicates over it to gain some weight etc than import a nice bit of natural herb from Jamaica or wherever it grows naturally. Heck we could grow it naturally here in a greenhouse except there is good chance it will get spotted and you would get nicked so it has to be hidden indoors which often means using hydroponics. We could have our own hydroponic farms to supply to coffee shop type places where the strains are controlled. Create some employment for those growing and those selling. Legalise it and supply it in Amsterdam style coffee shops and control the strains. And no...CBD on it's own does not always work. THC/CBD go hand in hand together to work properly. Israel have got the right attitude towards this. Their doctors supply it for various conditions on a regular basis with different stains of THC/CBD for whatever the condition is.
Full disclosure: I am what you would call an ex addict so I know what I'm talking about. Spent over 30 years addicted to one drug in particular but took various other substances on occasion. I have also worked for the majority of my life and did not use crime to support my addiction. Note I have also had addiction problems with supplied pharma for post Op and continuing pain control. Now I just live with pain and am debilitated because of it. If only I lived in Israel as I would be alright then and could live a perfectly normal life or even Denver, Colorado. 'Take me home down a country road, West Virginia, country mama, take me home down a country road'