Under discussion are plans by the local municipalities to set up Drug Consumption Sites in our cities. One example serving as role model is a site in Vancouver, called Insight [ http://supervisedinjection.vch.ca/ ].  These types of facilities are intended to not only supervise safe drug injection and sharing, but also to assist in a variety of other services to drug addicts and mostly also homeless people. All this based on a platform of compassion and providing services paid by governments. How much of those services and facilities actually accomplish to combat drug addictions and release those addicted to the outside world as being healed from their addictions, is unclear.
An interesting notion from the 1960s: A heavy smoker who also was an alcoholic then had been considered as a sick person, at times incarcerated in a mental facility. Given an excessive number of cigarettes to smoke daily so as to make an addict sick, in order to give up smoking. Alcoholics were given sessions between psychiatrists and with their nearest relatives in which the origins of that disease were supposed to surface. However, on the whole all of those addictions stem from weakness. Let’s assume you put those addicts to work on something meaningful, not even hard labour, make them forget their addiction. And instead focus on whatever they are doing. Compassion does not always accomplish reduction in drug addiction. [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drug_policy ]