Opinion: Is substance abuse and addiction a health or criminal issue?

Will locking up drug addicts in prison solve the problem?

Should they be in jail or rehab?


Sometimes, inequality plays a role. The wealthy often get  to go to rehab while the middle class get time in prison for possession. Should the law selectively decide  who gets to go to rehab for not, and shouldn't everyone should get a fair shake?

The prisons in Nigeria and in many parts of Africa are non-rehabilitating to say the least. Most people come out worse than how they were in the first place.

It is also a fact that drug abusers can hurt people but not every drug user in prison has hurt somebody else.

Addiction is a disease, not a crime. Drug addicts need to be helped, not punished, for their condition. Punishing an addict only leads them to further fuel their addiction, seeing no hope for turning their life around, since time in jail means having a criminal record, which make it harder. Really, drug dealers should go to jail, not substance addicts.

-Kelechi Nnanna, patriotic Nigerian