Do you think that drug dealers are in any way personally responsible for the addiction and possibly death of the addicts that they sell to?

Many people feel that drug pushers are personally responsible for causing addiction and death to those they sell to. The feeling is that the dealers are opportunists who encourage use of the drugs that they sell, and don’t care about the lives that are ruined.

Another attitude is that the drug pushers are not responsible for the actions of others, the addicts who buy and use illegal drugs or use legal drugs to excess, that the users are responsible for their own actions and nobody forces them to buy.

I just watched this great documentary on CNN about two brothers who owned and operated pain clinics in Florida, and how profitable the clinics became. They were dispensing to hundreds of patients per day, had lines out the door, and had doctors on staff who would diagnose and write prescriptions that the clinics filled – prescriptions for Xanax and other meds that are highly abused. There were addicts in the parking lot outside, shooting up and snorting the meds that they got and people were driving from other states to use the services of the pain clinics. The owners and employees of the clinics made millions of dollars, much of it in cash. In the end, just about everyone involved ended up charged and jailed for their involvement with the clinics.

At the end, one of the brothers came out of jail and he said in the interview that he and his brother are not responsible for the addicts who used the medications obtained at the clinic.

What do you think?

Here’s the documentary, “American Pain,” CNN. It was very good and very entertaining, by the way.
https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/03/us/american-pain-pill-mill-documentary-cec/index.html