Editor,
The large numbers of drug addicts in our nation can breathe a sigh of relief on learning that our Surgeon General himself has now sent a letter to all fellow doctors in America, asserting that “we can shape how the rest of the country sees addiction by talking about and treating it as a chronic illness, not a moral failing.”
Finally. It took the blurring of the lines between prescription drug use (legal) and “abuse” (illegal) for a tipping point to emerge that can hopefully legalize the consumption of addictive substances, the way it has been done for alcohol and is being done increasingly for marijuana.
But there should continue to be heavy-handed punishment of crimes committed while intoxicated on all drugs. Thus stealing to get money to get your next fix, from lifting a dime off the desk of your dorm-mate to committing an invasive robbery – these are clearly moral failings, and should not be excused by a judge saying, “Oh, that was just drug-induced psychosis and therefore symptomatic of a chronic illness.”
Arun Ahuja
UNM student
