I’m not an expert, but from my experience with addicts, intolerance pushes those suffering with addiction further underground, making it more difficult to engage the population in ways that could lead to meaningfully addressing the root problem instead of simply hiding it from view.

I understand, at least abstractly, the desire to paint the addict with the brush of moral failure, but as with the practical process of an individual getting sober, admitting the problem is the first step in overcoming it.

Until we accept this charge on a societal level—not just choosing whether or not to “condone” their suffering—nothing will meaningfully change.

And with overdoses killing more people than car accidents and guns in the United States, maybe the greater moral failure is ours?