An AP article on Forbes.com entitled Calif. PC Thief Takes Court Computers certainly makes you shake your head — a man was on trial for stealing computers and stole the court’s computers while he was there standing trial. I echo the amazement of the sheriff quotes in the write-up.

Of course, the perpetrator says he did it as a cry for help, “help with my drug problems, help with my sanity.”

At a first glance you might think he’s looking for help (which he will get, now: jail), but you can also consider that he was very likely looking to sell the computers for cash to buy more drugs (”help” with the drug problem) which would help him feel better (”help” with the sanity problem).

The reason this article exists is the obvious irony of the situation. I sigh, however, at the way we (the reading consumer) and the article’s author take the man at his word. Obviously if he has a drug problem he is not going to be entirely logical in his thinking, but that doesn’t mean his predicament should be accepted. It’s more than just an isolated case of a disconnected individual going off the deep end. By stealing the court’s computers, the man stole from all of the taxpayers. I do wonder how he was allowed to steal the computers in the first place, but even if he wasn’t stealing from the government, his problem affects more than just himself. That’s true of all addicts, and that’s what people need to be aware of.