>> So the answer to all of my questions is "yes."
I think the answer was qualified. If they can't do the job I certainly wouldn't put them in it. But I wouldn't automatically disqualify someone who is or has been addicted to drugs.
Unfortunately, the way our legal system works, there are jobs that if you employ a felon, the business and its customers can left exposed, even those the felony had nothing to with the job. But if that is the case, then that person cannot work in that job.
I just don't see drug addicts as useless pieces of human garbage to be locked up behind bars for the rest of their lives. I see them as people who legitimately need help to get back on their feet and in many instances, once back on their feet, who can contribute to society more than they take away. They're not bad people; they're people with bad problems. This has been my experience, having known a lot of serious drug abusers over the years.
I have recently reconnected with a high school friend who moved to the town I live in. He was "lost" on cocaine for 12 years. His sister-in-law runs a pain management clinic where they dole out "legal" drugs to all comers. I told her I had run into her brother-in-law who I knew years ago, and she said, "Too bad for you". This, this "legal" drug dealer was complaining about her brother-in-law addict who, as far as I can tell, leads a pretty decent life now, drug free, pays his own way, works hard, etc.
Society really doesn't have its head on straight about drug addicts. And it needs to because addition to medications purchased legally, with a valid Rx, from the local drug store is an epidemic. If you write all those people off you're going to think the "welfare state" was playtime. |
