Hacker News Reader

Comment by Traubenfuchs | Hacker News Reader

[flagged]

Posts like this are not in the intended spirit of the site. If you'd please review https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and stick to the rules when posting here, we'd appreciate it.

Absolutely not. What you see as the dregs, I see as another human being. It may cost more economically to care for them versus letting them die horrific deaths without trying, but making that decision would mean our society is far more monstrous than it is today.

And socially we would be worse off. Try visiting the small towns of the rust belt that have high addiction rates to see what happens socially.

And who are you to label other people as "hopeless dregs"?

That "hopeless dreg" over there might be the father of a young boy who was murdered during a school shooting; that other "hopeless dreg" might be the highschool student who was abducted and trafficked across state lines; that other "hopeless dreg" over yonder might be homeless because of healthcare expenses for a terminally ill family member.

I find your "net positive" comment absurdly offensive.

Yeah, that's abhorrent, but the amusing thing is that I've seen similar comments in threads about obesity.

I wonder how many that had the potential genetic talent of Ussain Bolt instead slid into other lifestyles and just became obese.

First: no.

Second: jesus fucking christ this is abhorrent.

People are willing to press the abort button too early on these people and it's both insightful and terrifying.

You cant save a fool from itself, but the problem with mass addictions is systemic. Society has failed, from enacting an unenforceable prohibition in the war on drugs (rightwing) to letting lost junkies harm themselves to oblivion from kind samaritans (leftwing). Before going around and praising social darwinism we should guarantee (even limited) effective/necessary treatments into vulnerable parts of society, preferably before "radicalization", viewing it as a social investment

> ...letting lost junkies harm themselves to oblivion from kind samaritans (leftwing)

This is really the centrist position, a compromise between conservative bans on harm reduction and liberal relaxation of prohibition laws. Actual left wing circles right back to unenforceable prohibition. China isn't exactly a bastion of uncontrolled addictive drug use with hopeless addicts roaming the streets.

There should be an education/freedom about using drugs (including alcohol & Nicotine), while punishing people that are misusing drugs, like showing up at work or driving under influence. Incarceration / forced hospitalization for people who cant help themselves an are a danger for themselves and others.

>China isn't exactly a bastion of uncontrolled addictive drug use

China has strict rules asbout drugs in the law, but the application of such laws is subordinated to the whims of officials, who often close an eye on activities of "tolerated" criminal organizations. Xi Jimping in the last few years got a lot less tolerant on drug trafficking, even to testing sewage water to measure official "efficiency" on tackling the problem

Reply on news.ycombinator.com