Matt Mahan

That doesn't mean suspending someone's freedom for years on end.

But I think with the kinds of

addictive substances we have today, requiring someone to detox for a few weeks might be the most compassionate thing we could possibly do.

I'm not a fan.

I do think it's complicated, though.

I want to be intellectually honest about this and all things.

I think that safe injection sites, from what I've seen, can

solve one problem, but may create another.

And so what I mean by that is if you just take the narrow view of what will reduce overdose deaths in the short run, save lives and reduce spread of disease, safe

consumption, safe injection does reduce the spread of disease and the risk of overdose death from what I've seen.

On the other hand, and maybe there's a way, there's a middle path here, but I really worry about a culture of enablement and simply, you know, in the long run, I think maybe the greater risk is saying, well,

There's nothing wrong with people just choosing to waste their lives in the throes of addiction.

And if they want to just use until they ultimately die, that's their choice.

Maybe, but again, the question is, what's your impact on others?

And so if you're just distributing needles and paraphernalia and enabling people to use without an intervention that tries to show them another path or get them to embrace

Yeah, I think that's right.

And I think there's a trade-off, and the question's always, what is the right, what is the ethical and pragmatic balance?

Very permissive blue cities that overlean on the empathetic and compassionate impulse have the effect of essentially enabling...

Because I think they're so worried about being judgmental, telling someone else what to do, any notion of coercion is anathema to that philosophic frame.

On the other hand, you have, and I'm kind of oversimplifying here, but more conservative people.