Posted: Fri Feb 12, 2010 12:46 am
I think that the public health/education approach to addiction/substance abuse is the one that has a chance of working. The recent bans on cigaret smoking have only been possible to enact because of decades of education and changing attitudes. And it took decades and generations for people to look at smoking differently and become intolerant of it. A similar process is going on with alcohol and it also is happening over decades. Drunk driving, drunkeness, young people drinking are all viewed very differently than they had been. Alcohol control and liability laws are toughening and most folks are pretty happy with the changes. People are ready for it. Alcohol prohibition was enacted, then repealed. Laws were enforcing what people didn't want. But smoking laws and bans won't be repealed, they'll become stricter, more encompassing. People are ready for this and lawmakers are ready to codify it.
The laws followed the changes in attitude. Change how people view things like smoking and drinking and they'll be much more accepting of increased restrictions. Current smoking laws and stricter alcohol-related laws wouldn't have stood a chance 40-50 years ago. Today most people are pretty happy with them, many would like them to be stricter. Based on what we know, there was grounds to outlaw cigarets years ago, but the public health/education approach has been working well---to the point that more and more people are ready to agree to bans. It's clearly an idea whose time has come.
A similar strategy has a better chance of working with other substances of abuse than a war does. With alcohol and tobacco nobody went after the suppliers. In fact the suppliers have vast resources but truth seems to be winning over advertising and lawyers. Nobody burned tobacco fields or blew up breweries. They kept bringing the info to the consumers.
There's no heroin or crystal meth or cocaine lobby, so the public health/education approach has fewer obstacles than it did with tobacco/alcohol. Nobody's speaking up for Big Heroin. By the way, most heroin reaching the U.S. is produced in Mexico or South America, so spraying Afghanistan isn't going to have any impact on the trade to here. Cocaine also reaches the U.S. from Mexico or South America, but crystal meth is cooked up right within our borders by our citizens from materials bought right in our stores .
The focus on increasing treatment facilities (they've been decreasing rather than increasing for lack of funds) and dealing addiction as a public health crisis, rather than as a criminal matter would have a chance of being more effective. It'll take time, but there will be progress. As it is there is no progress regarding illegal drugs. It took decades for the public perception of smoking to get where it is now. It was slow, systematic, relentless. Addicts need treatment not incarceration. The society needs education and change of attitude, not a war.
People used to be able smoke in hospitals, now they're not permitted to smoke in bars. It's become harder and more expensive to be a smoker. It used to be seen as sophisticated. Now smokers are seen as a notch or two above lepers (not many of them left).The attitude changed before the law. Had the law come first, it wouldn't have changed the attitude, as it hasn't with marijuana laws.
Harsh drug laws without providing access to treatment just criminalize sick people. Our most abused drug--alcohol--is vastly more damaging than marijuana ever could be. Tobacco is horribly more damaging. Marijuana definitely seems to have benefit beyond euphoric effect. People are adopting a much more realistic perspective on it. It should be made available. Possession of small amounts has be de-crimininalized here. But it does have some abuse potential and many serious, long time pot heads have turned into mushwits. Asserting that pot is a gateway drug leading to harder drug use just doesn't stand up to the reality of people's experience, so has no credibility. Most heroin addicts drank milk as children, so.....
A whole lot more people died from overdoses last year than died from H1N1. If there were a greater sense of addiction as a public health crisis, there might be a stronger response with treatment availability and education. Heroin, cocaine and crystal meth have no redeeming value. A lot of prescription medications--particularly benzos and opiates--are being abused or used illicitly. A lot of people really don't know what they're getting themselves into when they start fooling around with a particular drug.
If a long term educational campaign has been able to dramatically change how we see cigarets and smoking, it is possible to completely change how drugs are viewed and how alcohol abuse is seen.
A transformation has already occurred in how drugs are seen here. I'm so old now that I lived when drugs were generally seen as bad. I saw them switch to being dangerously intriguing, then to being the greatest thing that had ever been hidden from me. Then I began to see the damage they were starting to do. The perception and attitude can be changed again. Most people who are addicted don't want to be (or eventually won"t), they just haven't been able to stop. Treatment helps them. The education can help people to keep from becoming addicted in the first place.
The laws followed the changes in attitude. Change how people view things like smoking and drinking and they'll be much more accepting of increased restrictions. Current smoking laws and stricter alcohol-related laws wouldn't have stood a chance 40-50 years ago. Today most people are pretty happy with them, many would like them to be stricter. Based on what we know, there was grounds to outlaw cigarets years ago, but the public health/education approach has been working well---to the point that more and more people are ready to agree to bans. It's clearly an idea whose time has come.
A similar strategy has a better chance of working with other substances of abuse than a war does. With alcohol and tobacco nobody went after the suppliers. In fact the suppliers have vast resources but truth seems to be winning over advertising and lawyers. Nobody burned tobacco fields or blew up breweries. They kept bringing the info to the consumers.
There's no heroin or crystal meth or cocaine lobby, so the public health/education approach has fewer obstacles than it did with tobacco/alcohol. Nobody's speaking up for Big Heroin. By the way, most heroin reaching the U.S. is produced in Mexico or South America, so spraying Afghanistan isn't going to have any impact on the trade to here. Cocaine also reaches the U.S. from Mexico or South America, but crystal meth is cooked up right within our borders by our citizens from materials bought right in our stores .
The focus on increasing treatment facilities (they've been decreasing rather than increasing for lack of funds) and dealing addiction as a public health crisis, rather than as a criminal matter would have a chance of being more effective. It'll take time, but there will be progress. As it is there is no progress regarding illegal drugs. It took decades for the public perception of smoking to get where it is now. It was slow, systematic, relentless. Addicts need treatment not incarceration. The society needs education and change of attitude, not a war.
People used to be able smoke in hospitals, now they're not permitted to smoke in bars. It's become harder and more expensive to be a smoker. It used to be seen as sophisticated. Now smokers are seen as a notch or two above lepers (not many of them left).The attitude changed before the law. Had the law come first, it wouldn't have changed the attitude, as it hasn't with marijuana laws.
Harsh drug laws without providing access to treatment just criminalize sick people. Our most abused drug--alcohol--is vastly more damaging than marijuana ever could be. Tobacco is horribly more damaging. Marijuana definitely seems to have benefit beyond euphoric effect. People are adopting a much more realistic perspective on it. It should be made available. Possession of small amounts has be de-crimininalized here. But it does have some abuse potential and many serious, long time pot heads have turned into mushwits. Asserting that pot is a gateway drug leading to harder drug use just doesn't stand up to the reality of people's experience, so has no credibility. Most heroin addicts drank milk as children, so.....
A whole lot more people died from overdoses last year than died from H1N1. If there were a greater sense of addiction as a public health crisis, there might be a stronger response with treatment availability and education. Heroin, cocaine and crystal meth have no redeeming value. A lot of prescription medications--particularly benzos and opiates--are being abused or used illicitly. A lot of people really don't know what they're getting themselves into when they start fooling around with a particular drug.
If a long term educational campaign has been able to dramatically change how we see cigarets and smoking, it is possible to completely change how drugs are viewed and how alcohol abuse is seen.
A transformation has already occurred in how drugs are seen here. I'm so old now that I lived when drugs were generally seen as bad. I saw them switch to being dangerously intriguing, then to being the greatest thing that had ever been hidden from me. Then I began to see the damage they were starting to do. The perception and attitude can be changed again. Most people who are addicted don't want to be (or eventually won"t), they just haven't been able to stop. Treatment helps them. The education can help people to keep from becoming addicted in the first place.
