Interesting perspective, from a lawyer:

Jonah:
Strange coincidence: A little while ago I was discussing the proposed bankruptcy reforms with a partner of mine who does recovery work. We talked about how the credit card companies want to limit access to relief under a personal bankruptcy filing – for fairly obvious reasons. Not two minutes later, I see your post on the HBO drug addict documentary. Another two minutes, and I get a call from my mom about a relative with a drug habit. It seems this relative (22 years old, no income), following what she describes as a common practice of drug addicts, obtained credit cards from several department store chains. She then purchased gift cards up to the limit of each store credit card (several thousand dollars under each card). These gift cards were then exchanged for drugs at about 50 cents on the dollar. She now wants to use bankruptcy to clear the debts. So on the one hand, I’m completely sympathetic with the argument that this kind of irresponsible build up of debt is not the type of situation where the bankruptcy laws should be used for a “fresh start”. On the other hand, how much sympathy can one feel for the credit card companies if this debt were wiped clean – what were they all thinking in giving several thousand dollars in unsecured credit to a young unemployed person? Easy access to bankruptcy may make borrowers less responsible, but this seems to be one case where the lenders were hardly more responsible in extending credit. But either way, it also shows another negative social harm caused by drug addiction. Anyway, I thought it was strange to have the two themes collide like that while both were fresh on my mind. Keep up the great work.