[jyrkesh]

I'm not OP, but when someone is a repeat offender of some petty crimes, and they're assessed to be mentally ill and/or addicted to drugs, they should be given a choice: help or jail.

(Ideally, jail would just _be_ help, but unfortunately that's not the case. And there's a long tail of criminals who _aren't_ mentally ill or addicts, so let's assume jail still exists.)

I am a _staunch_ supporter of liberty, but I reject the notion that you can repeatedly pollute, steal, and commit violent acts on the streets without any recourse from the rest of society. And I absolutely support compassion as the first step of that recourse! Housing, counselors, harm reduction, and other treatments for addiction (esp opiate blockers) should all be on the table for people that need it.

But the alternative to that choice has to be jail. Because the status quo is not cutting it, and you're not "free" to infringe on people, their homes, and their businesses.

[jdietrich]

America already has the highest incarceration rate in the developed world. I don't think that locking even more people up is going to help. I don't think that putting a mentally ill person in an overcrowded, underfunded jail will do anything to resolve their mental health problems. I don't see any evidence to suggest that coercing people into treatment actually treats their addiction.

Being a drug addict is utterly miserable. We can all see that misery with our own eyes. I don't think we are willing to confront the much wider epidemic of misery that is driving people into addiction and perpetuating addiction.

[zencode]

I also doubt reducing incarnation will improve the situation either. Though its mostly being used as damage control as many people in our society come apart at the seams. it wont just require money, education and humane asylums, but a rethinking of modern social values. Humanity is more idiosyncratic and irrational than required to sustain classical liberalism.

[Spivak]

> and they're assessed to be mentally ill and/or addicted to drugs

I think this is where you'll get a lot push back because I have absolutely zero trust in my or any government to make this determination and not abuse it. I'm "mentally ill" a few times over, Johns Hopkins says 24% of adults have a mental disorder.

As much as I agree with you in theory that getting people help is good it requires a government of angels. It's the same thing with the war on drugs, the reality is much much worse than the theory.

[creato]

> but when someone is a repeat offender of some petty crimes, and ...

This is a critical part of the comment you are talking about. Everything you say is irrelevant if you're already objectively guilty of crime.

Legalization of drugs doesn't mean legalization of behavior caused by drugs.