It’s easy to take the knee-jerk “hang ’em, shoot ’em and flog ’em” reaction to people who stray onto the wrong side of the law.

I’m not saying people who have committed serious crimes shouldn’t be seriously punished but merely let off with a slap on the metaphorical wrist.

Equally those who use real violence to get their hands on someone else’s money, sexually abuse them or, just as scarily, commit grievous bodily harm for no discernible reason should receive a sentence which will deter them from doing anything similar again.

But drug addiction is a different matter.

It’s well known that men and women with serious drug problems account for a ridiculously high proportion of thefts and burglaries because of their compulsion to get enough cash for the next fix.

This root cause of their criminality is not helped by sending them to prison because, we are told, there are enough drugs of all kinds ‘inside’ to feed most addictions.

So they come out of jail with exactly the same problems as they had when they went in. In fact some ‘experts’ have suggested it’s possible for some users to become even more drug-dependent in prison so their condition actually worsens.

What we need are much better resources for getting people off drugs.

And the first step on that road is getting people to change their mindset and become convinced that they need to give up.

In the same way as no one will quit smoking unless they actually want to, drug users have to be convinced that they need to stop.

For many of us it’s difficult to see why any man or woman would want to hand control of their lives over to a substance that quickly leads to a constant craving which physically and mentally degrades as well as leaving them financially crippled.

I’m no psychologist but life experience convinces me there are many reasons why people do turn to drugs, and a lot of it involves their view of themselves.

Feeling good about yourself is important as is the confidence which comes with it.

And that’s why allowing drug addicts (and alcoholics) to be able to get free massages and beauty treatments as well as having their hair done in the new, publicly-funded Evolve Centre in Blackburn’s former Lewis Textile Museum is not a bad idea.

The suggestion that teenagers will somehow be encouraged to become addicts just to get a free manicure is just plain daft.

In fact it’s an extremely small price to pay for helping teenagers and others kick a habit compared with the millions spent on pointless and ineffective imprisonment.

So let’s lighten up and give this ‘treatment’ a chance to prove its worth before we scoff and respond so predictably.

The fact is traditional methods don’t work.