Intervention

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I was watching this show last night, which is about families who confront a drug-addicted member and try (with the help of the show's professionals) to get them to go into rehab (which is paid for by the show). It's a fascinating, enlightening show, sometimes very sad but sometimes with a happy ending.

My mind was churning around two things as I switched it off:

1. If the drug addict is a woman, her story almost always begins like this: "So-and-So was a very happy girl, outgoing and always smiling. And then" (fill in the blank with one of the following):  (a) "when she was 8 years old, she was molested by a family friend"; or (b) "I remarried, and it turned out my new husband secretly abused her for years"; or (c) "she was date-raped in college."

2. Some people are dangerous and/or sociopaths and need to be in jail. But some people are in jail only because they're drug addicts. STOP SENDING THEM TO JAIL, AND GET THEM REHAB. It's a waste of taxpayer money, not to mention a waste of human potential, to send someone repeatedly back to jail when crime is not their problem, drugs are their problem. I know that rehab doesn't always work, at least not the first time, but neither does jail. It's pointless, repetitive, expensive, and a waste of resources, both financial and human.

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