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[–] Kurplow 1 point 1 point 2 points (+2|-1) ago
Addiction is symptom of poverty among other things. People who want to be present in their lives don't abuse drugs or alcohol. Conversely, if you give an addict a reason to want to be present in their lives, they often find the will to walk away from their addiction.
http://www.samharris.org/blog/item/a-war-well-lost
The above is a great discussion between Sam Harris, a public intellectual I enjoy and Johann Hari, a journalist and writer who spent a long time looking at addiction and drug enforcement policies worldwide.
[–] mastersw999 ago
I agree with that to an extent but you don't just "walk away" from an addiction. But you are right though that there is some correlation between poverty and crime/addiction. But correlation don't equal causation but it might be a big part of the issue.
[–] china_troll 4 points -4 points 0 points (+0|-4) ago
You guys are shitting on poor people without any problem. This is fucking class-ism. Just because a person is poor, he cannot be a good person? This is far worse than racism.
As someone from extreme poverty*, no, you guys are fucking retardedly wrong.
[–] Kurplow 0 points 1 point 1 point (+1|-0) ago
I identified poverty as one of the things that can lead people to feel the lack of desire to be present in their lives which leads to addiction.
You're completely misrepresenting my statement. People who are happy, content, and fulfilled in their lives don't usually abuse drugs or alcohol to an extent that they become addicted. Impoverished people don't tend to be as happy, content, or fulfilled as people who are not impoverished.
If anything this is an extremely understanding and tolerant position to hold regarding addiction, and that is what I was putting forth. Never did I say that all poor people are addicts, or that all addicts are poor people.