Why not treat addicts like people with problems to begin with? What's to stop us?

Go look up some images of hardcore drug users on Google. Meth, heroin, crack, etc. They don't look healthy, do they? Nasty skin, nasty teeth, nasty hair, hauntingly thin. They're not what you and I think of when we think about happy, healthy, beautiful people. Unfortunately, they are what we think about when we think "drug user." Their drug use and the way it alters their appearances and behavior creates a huge psychological barrier, making them "others." When you combine that with social, economic, and racial barriers, suddenly there are a lot of walls that need to be broken down.

So what's to stop us from helping them? A few things. You're busy. I'm busy. Everyone here on Hubski is busy with our own lives. For a single person, drug addiction is a huge, sometimes insurmountable problem. It's hard to help any individual with the problems drug users face when we have our own lives to worry about. That's part of the reason things like social workers, addiction counseling, drug clinics, and all sorts of other social programs work. It's easier to handle these problems when it's your job and you have other people helping you. It's also why it's important to try and be there for your friends and family whenever possible, because it's a lot easier to keep people off drugs in the first place than it is to try and help them once they've gone over the edge.