Incarceration or Treatment

Some may remember that the “war on drugs” began in 1971 as a result of drug use both in the United States and among the US troops serving in Vietnam. The solution was simply incarceration with the result of compromising too many families. Of course, those arrested with black skin far outnumbered those with white skin.  Even the penalties for possession were more severe for the blacks. This essay suggests we should eliminate our punitive war on drugs and replace it with more empathetic, holistic and research oriented strategies.

This is another war that we’ve lost. Let’s look at the following statistics: 1. One American was arrested for drug possession every 25 seconds 2. More Americans die each year from overdose then those perished in Vietnam, Afghan and Iraqi wars combined. 3. More than 2 million children in America live with a parent suffering from illicit drug dependency 4. The White House has estimated that the opiate crisis exceeds $500 billion a year - suffering from illicit drug dependency. That’s equivalent to roughly $4000 per household and that doesn’t include cocaine, meth and other drug use. 5. Alex Kral, an epidemiologist with the RTI International Think Tank stated “legislative and law enforcement solutions to drug problems in the US have constantly caused more harm than they have solved.”

Another way at more humanly dealing with substance abuse has been implemented in Portugal and Canada. Portugal, for example, decriminalized possession of all drugs in 2001. The result- Portugal’s overdose death rate has plunged. Canada has provided heroin, with medical supervision, for long-time users who can’t break their addictions. In our country, Seattle has started directing people toward social services assistance instead of incarceration. In essence, they have decriminalized the use of hard drugs. They understand that to deal with this addiction problem, one must think about underlying causes.

Picking on West Virginia, we found that 14% of babies are born exposed to drugs and perhaps 5% more on alcohol. These newborn babies are dependent on opioids. They tremble, cry, can’t sleep, vomit, barely eat and lose weight. It’s clear, these babies have symptoms of drug withdrawal. Babies going through severe withdrawal are likely given medication like methadone or heroin to ease the symptoms. Yes, symptoms are treated with drugs even for the young. I’m not a betting man, but the likelihood of those babies developing into productive human beings are slim.

It’s a crime to ingest certain drugs but not yet a crime for a drug addicted mother or drug addicted father to become a partner in an unplanned or planned pregnancy. There should be some moral consequence for having a baby under these negative circumstances. We know that incarceration doesn’t work. Perhaps, a program to deal with physical, psychological and economic health that includes options for preventing pregnancy, aborting pregnancy, adoption and/or foster care for the newborn. No one asked the baby if it wanted to be born with these hobbles. A program is also necessary to assist the baby with its drug dependency status as well. This may mean separating the baby from its addicted mother.

Sources: The New York Times August 28, 2019 “Ending the War on Drugs” and the New York Times September 8, 2019 “Newborns Crying for Drugs, Not Milk.”