Untrained individuals may help, but the chemical and genetic side of addiction must be acknowledged and addressed for the addict to make a full recovery.
The purpose of the justice system is to punish. The truth is, most alcoholic and addicts have already been punished, before they ever walk into a courtroom. They have lost loved ones, promising careers, and their physical health to their illness. Could prison take away more of their dignity and act as a deterrent? Incarcerating addicts without specific, substance-abuse therapy designed to treat the physical compulsions and psychological conditions (including but not limited to depression and anxiety) that motivated them to become addicts will do little to ensure that addiction, and the crimes it may have spawned, will cease.
In fact, given the levels of drug use and abuse in prison, it may only give addicts further reason to remain addicted, by normalizing the behavior, isolating them from non-addicts,...
The so-called 'war on drugs' has treated addicts like hostile combatants, fueling the drug trade. The fallacy of this reasoning is that addicts are not, past the first stages of abuse, willing actors who can choose or not choose to take the next hit, based upon the prospect of sure and swift punishment. The addiction itself is the punishment, and quite often the addicts have nothing to lose -- no social reputation, no connection to the larger community, or, even for those who have managed to maintain a facade of normalcy, no happiness other than seeking the next hit to feel 'like themselves' again.
Works Cited
Addiction." DSM-IV. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. 4th edition. Washington DC: American Psychiatric Association (AMA). 1994. Definition found at "Alcohol Abuse: Diagnosis." Mental Health Channel. 26 Apr 2008. http://www.mentalhealthchannel.net/alcohol/diagnosis.shtml
