Tim extends where I was going in my post about "Training the Staff" by tying the idea of punishing the patient/client/addict to the idea of taboo, and inviting divine punishment for the group if it does not punish the wrongdoer. I think that is about right. It is connected with Jonathan Haidt's Moral Foundations Theory and the importance of the axis of purity as well. Haidt was on Glenn Loury's show recently, BTW, talking about the seeming sudden stupidity of college professors and students is unlikely, given that his personal observation is that individuals are much as before, but that there is now a Systemic Stupidity, where foolishness is rewarded and sensible actions punished, creating perverse incentives. He does think that acts of moral courage are what is need to combat this, but he is not convinced there has been a general deterioration of character and intelligence.
Anyway, back to the idea of taboo and the need for the society to punish those who offend against particular expectations. He makes the Body as Holy Temple reference one would expect from a properly-raised evangelical, as it was a frequent warning. I remember it well, as I was a smoker, usually the only one, in places of disapproval. Some critics were quite direct in insisting to me that "Your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit." I many times thought, though I don't believe I ever said "Actually, I very seldom sleep with temple prostitutes, which is what that verse refers to." If one wants to extend the idea to all forbidden sexual behavior I will grudgingly nod with a bit of a wince, but I think pushing it farther owes too much to more secular ideas about alcohol and tobacco, imposed on the scriptures.To extend it to drugs is no better. It is possible that God does see things in exactly this way, but the evidence is shaky, too shaky to impose on another, however one feels about not eating meat and running 10Ks oneself.
That God does sometimes punish for a people tolerating some sort of evil is true. You can find examples throughout the scriptures. But notice that these usually fall into two categories: direct worship of false gods, or injustice toward others. The latter often carries a double sin, that we not only do harm to someone, but then blame them for it. The poor may not be any more righteous or deserving than the rich in the abstract, but in how life plays out, people are likely to give themselves credit for being rich and blame the poor for their lot. As we do not see all choices, abilities, and circumstances even in our own lives, never mind others, we overstep whenever we make such judgements. As ridiculous as it sounds, humans are quite capable of kicking others and then blaming them for being bruised.
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WRT Training the Staff: to complicate matters a bit, there's Ezekiel 33 about the responsibility of a watchman: "You've got A, B, and C down pat, but don't forget about X, Y, and Z, which will also do you in if you don't get a handle on them." Where does the staff responsibility end--in arbitrary rules? It would seem hard to feel like you're done.
And if I provide the heroin that a man uses to destroy himself, am I culpable in his destruction? He might have done worse, and more quickly, and perhaps this is kinder to the group. It's not a happy calculation--sort of like war. I read somewhere (On Killing?--if so I need to double check him) that the Orthodox had a ceremony a little like confession for soldiers returning from war.
"Systemic Stupidity, where foolishness is rewarded and sensible actions punished, creating perverse incentives."
The Federal Reserve springs to mind. So is the incoming crash and subsequent depression, some kind of Divine Punishment?
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