Recently Governor Hogan was lauded for his recognition that Maryland has a heroin problem. It was also noted that Rt. 301 is a pathway for drug distribution to the Shore. Are we now all clear about the road ahead?
Such simplistic laudatory comments are tiresome. Our country has an ongoing drug problem of major proportions and simplistic statements serve us not at all. We built domestic organized crime with the first prohibition (alcohol) and fueled the development of South American cartels with the second prohibition (marijuana). Given their advanced state, these criminal enterprises have developed a larger line they now market to us.
We have wasted many billions on politically inspired interdiction operations. Our foolish policies have served to destabilized countries that in turn has led to the flight of their citizens who we see coming to our shores. They are known at Latinos, and our response to their desperate search for the future we impaired has been less than impressive.
Drug problems must be addressed by enlightened policy management in our relationship with other countries. Issues also have to be addressed with well formulated national policies which deal with realities not political rhetoric.
The reality of drugs is that they are complex. Each of us has a unique signature of receptors which dictates what drugs we resonate to. Included are nicotine, caffeine, opiates and on and on. Our social background, even our religion, relates to our drug of choice. And in my work with a major drug treatment program I learned how we must attune the recovery process for each individual to the degree possible.
And then there is the matter of prevention. We should have learned something from our battle with tobacco. It has taken decades to bring down the rate of addiction. Addictions are tenacious, and we have never made a truly significant effort with opiates.
We have a great deal of information, and we have not used the body of knowledge at our disposal to develop in-depth campaigns of prevention, wise legal processes or flexible treatment objective. It is clearly time to move out of the self-serving political sphere and get to work on this scourge at all levels. And, by the way, there are corporate entities including tobacco companies and big pharma which are arrayed against effective programs in addition to the criminal enterprises we helped create.
Kirk French Jr. says
In 1970, when Nixon first rolled out his “War on Drugs” commitment, hardcore users (Heroin, Cocaine, Methamphetamines) account for roughly 2% of the population. Today that number is still roughly 2%.
You point out that big pharma and tobacco companies are against effective programs. This is why we have failed Capitalism. Our government is too susceptible to the will of the capitalists.