Comments by "FrozEnbyWolf150" (@FrozEnbyWolf150) on "Ted Cruz Exaggerates Sister’s Death To Score Debate Point" video.

  1. The very fact that drugs are criminalized leads to a lot of overdose deaths. People with substance abuse problems are afraid to come forward and seek proper treatment, since they don't want to be arrested and jailed. It also doesn't help that we often lack affordable mental health treatment, so many people self-medicate with drugs and alcohol.
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  2. More assumptions. You ignore sources that contradict your claims, while providing none of your own. There's no reason to trust anyone, be they a doctor or otherwise, who offers zero citations and only falls back on their own credentials. You know absolutely nothing about my personal experience in the system, the people I've met and spoken to, or how the issue has affected my own life. You have no clue about my age or demographic, the treatment programs I've been in myself, and the conflicts I've had with unscrupulous doctors. So get off your high horse. You referred to a treatment program that isn't available in the US because the drug is illegal. Did you miss that this video is about drug policy in the US? The only question you asked was what harm there is in self-medication. This proves you're not a serious person and are resorting to sophistry. People self-medicate depression with alcohol. People self-medicate chronic pain with opiates. People misuse prescription drugs or abuse illegal drugs because they aren't getting the treatment they need. You seem to think such behaviors are devoid of negative health consequences. Your more recent question is an attempt to change the subject, and to shame people who look up sources to support their claims. It's not uncommon to find sources that contradict what one has already studied or believed to be true for years. Even if I answered that, you'd claim my answer is wrong because you are already an expert who doesn't need to look things up. So don't talk about moving goalposts. You claim people aren't imprisoned for being drug addicts. At least 40% of the US prison population consists of non-violent drug offenders. Under the War on Drugs, you can be arrested merely for possession. You can be arrested on false charges simply for being suspected of drug use. You can be arrested on drug charges for being the wrong skin color. I was arguing in favor of reforming US drug laws and the US healthcare system. You come off as being against these things, and basing that on your own self-proclaimed expertise to attempt to weasel out of citing any sources yourself.
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  3. I suggest you stop assuming what other people don't know, especially since you've offered no citations or evidence to support your claims. The phenomenon I mentioned does happen. https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/good-samaritan-drug-overdose-fentanyl-politics-parliament-1.4786094 Stories like this, and the case mentioned in the video, are from the US. Certain treatments are not available because the drug is illegal in the US. You claim that offering affordable mental health treatment would change very little. On what do you base this assertion? A study by SAMSHA found that more than half of Americans with mental illness did not receive treatment because they could not afford it. Was there a radical shift in our healthcare system over the past 5 years? https://thinkprogress.org/study-americans-just-cant-afford-mental-health-treatment-bf0a3c3d5b2d/ But do go ahead and assert that I have no experience with mental illness, that I don't know how mental health treatment works, that I've never met people with substance abuse problems, and that I don't know what kinds of medications are used to treat addictions because I've never been on them myself.
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