Just as a start towards a more informed opinion and possibly a more informed topic to be posted later, I wanted to explore, with your help the issue of a society or individual "forcing" someone against their will to endure addiction withdrawal.
Example:
John is addicted to Heroin and has a regular routine of "illegal house entry" to help fund his expensve addiction. Regardless of the ecconomic cost John is unable to maintain any valuable contribution to society [ by societies reckoning] and has demonstrated a total disregard for his own future and that or others.
Under certain laws John could bee seen at least technically, as being in a predispostion to self harm, and potentially harming others. His behaviour is perceived as demonstratably self- nhilistic and statisticaly his life expectancy is zero beyond a few years with out some sort of society intervention whether that be by law enforcement [ imprisonment ] of outreach from community organisations.
In this scenario, John is apprehended by law enforcement and proved guilty in a court of law of crimes associated with illegal substance abuse.
The judge sentences John not to prison but to forced drug rehabilitation with only one way to leave the program and that is successfull and provable freedom from the addiction that was "deemed" to be destroying his future.
[proof of success is deemed to have been acheived when John is able to abstain from drug taking in a situation of easy drug supply for a period of no less that 6 months]
The question of ethics for me is simply put:
Can forced rehabilitation from "addiction" be considered as ethical and justified as a moral act?
One could argue that his right to self determination is actually what society may be wishing to enforce by removing the "determining influence" of the drug of addiction.
Possible Perspectives:
Rehab system:
"We are forcing John back to a position of self- empowerment where by he will be able to reassert his self determination"
Johns:
"They have no right to force me to rehabilitate, as my addiction is entriely my choice and by my self determination.
As I said at he begining of the Op this topic is really just a preliminary exploration to see whether it deserves further attention so my apologies for it's confused rendering.
....and of course addiction to all sorts of behaviour and things is endemic in all cultures ..so where do you draw the line?
Example:
John is addicted to Heroin and has a regular routine of "illegal house entry" to help fund his expensve addiction. Regardless of the ecconomic cost John is unable to maintain any valuable contribution to society [ by societies reckoning] and has demonstrated a total disregard for his own future and that or others.
Under certain laws John could bee seen at least technically, as being in a predispostion to self harm, and potentially harming others. His behaviour is perceived as demonstratably self- nhilistic and statisticaly his life expectancy is zero beyond a few years with out some sort of society intervention whether that be by law enforcement [ imprisonment ] of outreach from community organisations.
In this scenario, John is apprehended by law enforcement and proved guilty in a court of law of crimes associated with illegal substance abuse.
The judge sentences John not to prison but to forced drug rehabilitation with only one way to leave the program and that is successfull and provable freedom from the addiction that was "deemed" to be destroying his future.
[proof of success is deemed to have been acheived when John is able to abstain from drug taking in a situation of easy drug supply for a period of no less that 6 months]
The question of ethics for me is simply put:
Can forced rehabilitation from "addiction" be considered as ethical and justified as a moral act?
One could argue that his right to self determination is actually what society may be wishing to enforce by removing the "determining influence" of the drug of addiction.
Possible Perspectives:
Rehab system:
"We are forcing John back to a position of self- empowerment where by he will be able to reassert his self determination"
Johns:
"They have no right to force me to rehabilitate, as my addiction is entriely my choice and by my self determination.
As I said at he begining of the Op this topic is really just a preliminary exploration to see whether it deserves further attention so my apologies for it's confused rendering.
....and of course addiction to all sorts of behaviour and things is endemic in all cultures ..so where do you draw the line?