Forced to Be (Drug) Free! Singaporean Nannystate Edition
Dancing along the gemeinschaft-gesellschaft community--associative society tightrope, we have Alameida of Unfogged on teh Singapore Nannystate:
Unfogged: I have a sponsee now... a Singaporean heroin addict, she has used off and on, sometimes staying clean for a few years, in and out of jail, but is just now giving the 12-step thing the old college try.... The other interesting thing is her attitude towards the state that imprisoned her for possession for so many years. I was angry on her behalf, because I think it's a terrible system of laws. She was more philosophical, taking the view that the government meant her well, that they were trying to force her onto the right path but their efforts failed because of her own weakness. The time in jail itself she speaks of almost positively. No drugs (unlike in a US jail), healthy food that wasn't bad at all, nothing to do but get exercise, read, and educate herself (she did her A levels from prison, tutoring herself with a workbook.) She did a lot of self-reflection, but it was never enough to keep her clean once the gates swung open.
