Thread by @ShellenbergerMD

It is understandable but wrong to blame parents for children who become addicted to hard drugs. Of course parenting matters. But so too do the facts that the culture encourages drug use; we lack a functioning mental health system; and that SF has effectively legalized hard drugs

https://twitter.com/LibertyCoaliti4/status/1451933875295322116

The fact of the matter is that Corey is already everyone else's problem.

What makes Jacqui special, a rare jewel among the millions of parents with drug-addicted children, is that she overcame her shame to speak out publicly, and demand action

She first did so in the fall of 2019 & has continued to speak out ever since

I admire Jacqui very much and am proud to call her my friend

Out of admiration for her and her courageous story, I made her a pivotal character in San Fransicko

Excerpt here

michaelshellenberger.substack.com/p/why-californ…

As a parent of two, I can't imagine the horror of losing a child to drug addiction, overdose, or poisoning. It's fair to say there are few things worse than having a child die. Nearly as bad is having to spend years worrying about whether your child was dead or alive.

Jacqui is doing the courageous, intelligent, and compassionate thing in demanding that her son be arrested. She is taking responsibility and deserves the gratitude of the whole of society. It is she, not the politicians nor the activists, who is speaking out for justice.

I think the people who are quick to blame parents are often themselves quite pained by the horror and confusion created by America's drug death crisis. In blaming parents, they seek to resolve the cognitive dissonance at how such a good nation could allow such horrible things.

But it's wrong to do so. Jacqui is taking responsibility, as should other parents. But even those parents who aren't doing anything can hardly be blamed: they are devastated emotionally, spiritually, and often physically. It's a miracle that Jacqui has the courage to speak out.

And so I would ask all whose instinct is to blame the parents to take a beat, and reflect empathically on the situation. Let he who is without sin throw the first stone.