The replacement drugs only work with someone inside the system. There are a lot of people outside of or at odds with the system because of how it levies criminality against addicts. And again: criminality that is automatically assumed acts as a positive feedback loop leading to addicts committing legitimate crime.

I don’t think you’re very familiar with how the situations about addicts is in Finland. Addicts aren’t really outside of the “system” here in a way that’d prevent them from having access to replacement drugs. It’s easy to get them to avoid issues such as we are talking here.

I don’t think the reason some steal is about access. Nor do I think it’s about fear of being branded a criminal since you’re putting yourself into much bigger risk and making yourself into an actual criminal by stealing to make money instead of just going to get replacement stuff.

I’m not familiar with Finnish prisons. I’ve been told that they’re better than US prisons and I definitely believe that much. But still, someone with an issue of addiction shouldn’t be going to prison at all in the first place. That was the main point I was trying to make there.

I agree with it in the sense that they shouldn’t be going there just for addiction or drug use, which they don’t. You won’t go to jail for that and even fines for using are rare. It’s the criminality around it (trying to get money for drugs, dealing drugs) that get people convicted.

Finnish prisons are interesting in that often people are put into so called “open prisons” that are very lax and you get to spend a lot of time outside the prison and whatnot. The intention is rehabilitation and it’s a good place to get someone hesitant about programs to get into one. But of course the point isn’t to jail them to force their them into programs. It’s always better for people to do that outside of prison, before things escalate to them being jailed.

And I’m not advocating for anything like free drugs. What I’m advocating for is a more psychological approach to handing addiction. Addiction itself is a psychological disease, and it needs to be treated like that. Not like it’s some sort of moral failure: like the system insists upon.

I think that’s how it usually is treated here. As a disease and as a social issue rather than issue of criminality and such.

I do not think we will find consensus on this, so this is where I’ll take my leave.

I don’t think that’s always necessary, discussion even with disagreements can be useful. But I respect your decision.