Interesting viewpoint. Last week in this newspaper the state legislator said the current prison population in this state is busting the state budget yet some say here that addicts who have committed no crimes should go to prison because federal "tax" money should not be used to treat addictions. The point that I am making is that addiction is a huge financial burden on society, some addicts do not hold jobs, they get divorced, do not support their kids and sell drugs and commit crimes to get money to fuel their addiction and tie up our court system which costs a lot of state money. So no matter how society deals with addicts they costs a lot of money to the communities and the states they live in. Better to spend my tax money on treating them and giving them an opportunity to live a useful life rather than spend decades in the "system" on the state dime.  I know addicts who have been treated and they do reclaim their lives, it happens all the time.