jersey_girl660 t1_j78alf6 wrote on February 4, 2023 at 9:06 PM

Reply to comment by throwawaitnine in Mayoral Candidate Rebecca Rhynhart lays out plan of attack for opioid crisis from Kensington by ColdJay64

Jail is not treatment. While we absolutely should be incorporating treatment into jail for those who have to go it’s not a system meant to treat addicts.

Make no mistake majority of people don’t end up like your friend. Majority end up either dead or worse off then they were.

Jail is not treatment. Also we don’t have the room in jails to do that anyways. So we should let dangerous criminals out instead of fixing the system actually meant for SUD?

throwawaitnine t1_j78h47r wrote on February 4, 2023 at 9:53 PM

My friend was jailed briefly before taking a plea deal which had him in a 30 day inpatient rehab in lieu of a prison sentence. The time he spent in jail was because he couldn't post bail. In today's climate, he wouldn't have been arrested, or jailed or kept in custody awaiting a trial.

I don't think prison is an answer, although there are certainly addicts who should be in prison for the actions they take to support their addiction. There should be an infrastructure in place, in prisons, to treat addicts for are incarcerated.

I strongly believe that most addicts, should be arrested, charged and forced into 30 day rehab in lieu of a prison sentence. If we don't have the beds for that, we should make the beds for that. We should spend whatever money is necessary to force people through detox and into treatment at every opportunity. As a society we should put our foot down and say, no, you will not get high on heroin with impunity.