Keeping people weened on $300 per week of dirt to shoot up their veins just isn't really what I would consider to be a step in the right direction - they're basically choosing one prison over another, and I don't care how much more 'free' people suppose this 'decision' to be.

You're completely right though, we need to think of something else other than this up-cliff battle against the apparent basic human need to dope oneself. Fear tactics don't work because people either know enough to ignore them or they don't know enough to know the truth about things until it comes time to smoke meth off a fucking car windshield.

People with substance addictions are sick and need help, not punishment or process through an already bloated internment system that can only help to add to people's need to escape reality. But is supplying people with what they want truly the resolution merely because the statistics indicate as such? I think you'd be a fool to eat that up.

What they need to do is boost the image of those that successfully reformed if for nothing else but to give hope.
Every AA meeting has a speaker who was either a reformed alcoholic and/or drug addict. It's for everyone's benefit who's at the meeting but especially for those that have never been to one before because it's those people that are thinking of making a change that need the most encouragement.
They need to put these types of people on a pedestal (if they're willing of course).

Hell, if Scientology can exploit celebrities for their own gain, why not have a few celebrities come out for a more righteous cause such as AA?
The only problem with this of course is that AA is very strict regarding their associations and representation.

IMHO I think they really should do this as apposed to the status quo.

___________________
"...End? No, the journey doesn't end here. Death is just another path...one that we all must take.
The grey rain-curtain of this world rolls back, and all change to silver glass...and then you see it...
...white shores...and beyond...the far green country under a swift sunrise."