Drug Addiction: The Criminal Illness
Drug addiction, we hear from every corner, is an illness—a disease. According to countless experts, it is a legitimate medical condition; specifically, an ailment of the brain. In that regard, at least, drug addiction (and its chief physical aspect, chemical dependency,) can be thought of as in some ways similar to epilepsy, or Parkinson’s.
The same clinical language on addiction appears everywhere, from popular shows like Intervention (recently renewed for its 14th season), to late-night infomercials that pitch celebrity-style recovery programs. The American Medical Association and the American Society of Addiction Medicine also agree: drug addiction is a sickness, not a moral failing.
We live in an enlightened age, relatively speaking, when it comes to attitudes on drugs and drug addiction. But it seems that way mostly when we are speaking; in practice, drug addiction is still “treated” with legal remedies as often as medical ones.
From the dawn of the 1980s drug war to today, roughly half of all incarcerations have occurred as a result of nonviolent drug offenses, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons — charges that include trafficking, but also use, possession, and having paraphernalia.
Meanwhile, the surgeon general has estimated that only about 10% of drug addicts receive any form of viable…
