“the cost to all of us as a society”
This is precisely the problem. The drug addicts should NOT “cost” to “all of us” as a “society”. That kind of socialist mentality is the root of the problem.
Take care of your own damn PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY problem. Don’t cost the rest of us with your “pre existing” condition. I’m sure drug addiction is a “condition”. ugh, no wonder it is difficult to just get rid of Obamacare.
The cost that I am speaking of is not in dollars. It is in the waste of otherwise productive lives and the loss of talented individuals. Yes I am a strong proponent of personal responsibility but I can sympathize with and for the families and communities torn apart. I hope you never experience the pain of an addicted loved one. I hope you never lie awake at night waiting for a call from the police or the morgue. But some of us have and the answers aren’t as easy as you think.