What Should Our Attitude Be and How Can We Help?

Some reasonable recommendations⁹ for combating drug abuse are as follows. Treat drug abuse as a public health problem and support reducing drug use by treatment and prevention education. (This is not saying that drug users who break the law should not be held accountable.) Focus on the collateral damage caused by drugs. This includes the spread of infectious diseases such as HIV and STDs because of bad health practices and poor judgment due to drug use. Support prevention efforts because they are the least expensive way to reduce the costs of drug abuse to society. Prevent use in children, because people who do not use drugs from ages 10 to 20 years of age are unlikely to start using drugs in later life. Support increasing funding for research into the process of addicti....