is individuals who are addicted to drugs for example cocaine, heroin, opioid, etc. and have substance disorders are been punished by the court of law in The United States, incarcerating them instead of placing individuals on rehabilitation programs. Drug addiction is a chronic disease by seeking drugs and it is hard to control even though individuals are aware of the harm the substance can do to them it is addictive to them and very difficult to stop. In most of the cases in order to stop drug addiction professional help has to be seek, therapy and rehabilitation programs. Consuming drug constantly can lead to brain changes that makes the person self-control difficult to stop the urges to buy and consume drugs. When a person is in treatment there is a probability that he/she may relapse.
Basically relapsing means after a while of a person getting treatment and improving recurs to drugs like if it was a diseases he/she worsens. Individuals are been arrested for crimes that are drug related after being punished ,doing their time and being out of prison they go back to consuming drugs. The problem of incarcerating individuals who are addictive to drugs and punishing them is that they will end up going to prison for the same crime Is punishing individuals with drug addiction being effective? In the article “Treatment vs Punishment” by Jillian Rose (Pew Research Center Poll) the poll gave a statistics that two thirds of Americans would like to see illegal drug offenders enter programs that focus of rehabilitation instead of incarceration. Psychologist and author B.F Skinnier who studied human behavior wrote that “Behavior that is punished is likely to reappear after the consequences are withdrawn”
