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I think we're fighting the war on drugs because we understand that the people battling drug use are our brothers, and sisters who need our help.
In the U.S. we're all one family, and I think we should do what we can to bring our brothers and sisters into the light we're all human, and it's very easy for one to become misguided and it's up to us to do what we can to help our fellow American citizens.
No. The United States is not “all one family”. It does not have a homogeneous population. It is highly segregated along socioeconomic lines. It has many distinct cultures. The two political parties pander to ignorant white people on one side and the poor from all the other tribes on the other.
The proper way to deal with this is to clean up the drug supply so people aren’t killing themselves injecting contaminated fentanyl with dirty needles and treat the addiction. Throwing junkies in jail doesn’t accomplish anything. The problem is political. The party pandering to ignorant white people is in power so the opioid epidemic is getting the ignorant white people response. Treatment is expensive and the rich people who actually control the party that panders to ignorant white people doesn’t want to pay the extra taxes. There is also the “follow the money” thing with for-profit jails.
I think we're fighting the war on drugs because we understand that the people battling drug use are our brothers, and sisters who need our help.
I like your compassion and attitude, I just wish you would open your eyes. As well-meaning as you are, and as well-meaning The War On Drugs appears to be, it is anything but. It has resulted in making the mess we are in now much worse than it had to be.
Please, wake up! Take your compassion and energy and channel it in a direction that actually helps. Get people to realize that The War On Drugs has become so corrupt that it now rivals the prohibitionist movement from 100 years ago that caused so much harm, and created so much corruption that it had to be repealed. It created an entire criminal industry, similar to the horrible drug cartels we have today.
Google "Harm Reduction" and do some research on some of the alternatives to The War On Drugs. Other countries have implemented them and have met with much success, to the point that it is beginning to make us, in the US, look like fools. It is a much, much wiser alternative to continuing to fund drug cartels.
There is no proven method of 'rehabilitating' drug addicts. In the long run harm reduction is probably the best we can hope for. Suboxone should be readily available to opiate addicts and it should be free. Antabuse is useful for alcoholics when they feel 'triggered' to drink, there are no similar drugs for methamphetamine, cocaine or other addictions. 12 step programs are a joke with a long term recovery rate of < 5%. Addicts commonly refer to NA/AA meetings as "dopeathons" with members offering competing anecdotes about how much they drank or how many drugs they used. Talking therapy might help a few people whose addiction is driven by a mental health issue that can be diagnosed and treated. But basically drugs and alcohol change the brain so much that relapse is almost inevitable.
I have a friend who is in her 70's she was a heroin addict for decades, she's been sober for over 30 years but she tells me that she has to avoid public bathrooms, she always shot up in them when she was using and entering one and closing the door to the stall gives her an almost overwhelming urge to use.
I think we're fighting the war on drugs because we understand that the people battling drug use are our brothers, and sisters who need our help.
In the U.S. we're all one family, and I think we should do what we can to bring our brothers and sisters into the light we're all human, and it's very easy for one to become misguided and it's up to us to do what we can to help our fellow American citizens.
If the goal of the drug war was actually to stop drug use, and the concern for health and safety were sincere, it would look nothing like the current effort does.
There is no proven method of 'rehabilitating' drug addicts. In the long run harm reduction is probably the best we can hope for. Suboxone should be readily available to opiate addicts and it should be free. Antabuse is useful for alcoholics when they feel 'triggered' to drink, there are no similar drugs for methamphetamine, cocaine or other addictions. 12 step programs are a joke with a long term recovery rate of < 5%. Addicts commonly refer to NA/AA meetings as "dopeathons" with members offering competing anecdotes about how much they drank or how many drugs they used. Talking therapy might help a few people whose addiction is driven by a mental health issue that can be diagnosed and treated. But basically drugs and alcohol change the brain so much that relapse is almost inevitable.
I have a friend who is in her 70's she was a heroin addict for decades, she's been sober for over 30 years but she tells me that she has to avoid public bathrooms, she always shot up in them when she was using and entering one and closing the door to the stall gives her an almost overwhelming urge to use.
I agree about the Suboxone, when I first started on it, I said they should be handing this out on the street corners!
Strangely though, there are very strict regulations with Suboxone, most pharmacies treat it just like any other narcotic, access to it is heavily monitored and regulated. You know something is 'not quite on the level' when govt and LE start to heavily regulate a drug that helps people GET OFF of heroin!! That is extremely suspicious of them to do that, a person who is not familiar with drug addiction or treatment is going to look at that, as them discouraging people from getting clean.
I agree about the Suboxone, when I first started on it, I said they should be handing this out on the street corners!
Strangely though, there are very strict regulations with Suboxone, most pharmacies treat it just like any other narcotic, access to it is heavily monitored and regulated. You know something is 'not quite on the level' when govt and LE start to heavily regulate a drug that helps people GET OFF of heroin!! That is extremely suspicious of them to do that, a person who is not familiar with drug addiction or treatment is going to look at that, as them discouraging people from getting clean.
They didn't increase the number of suboxone patients a doctor can prescribe for until July of 2016. It's now set at 275 patients, prior to that it was set at 100 for Doctors who applied for a waiver and 30 for those who didn't have a particular certification. Why they would set any limit on a drug that has a long history of enabling opioid addicts to lead a normal life is troubling to say the least https://www.naabt.org/faq_answers.cfm?ID=46
They didn't increase the number of suboxone patients a doctor can prescribe for until July of 2016. It's now set at 275 patients, prior to that it was set at 100 for Doctors who applied for a waiver and 30 for those who didn't have a particular certification. Why they would set any limit on a drug that has a long history of enabling opioid addicts to lead a normal life is troubling to say the least https://www.naabt.org/faq_answers.cfm?ID=46
Yep, thats just more proof that they really do not want people to get clean, after all, a person who is taking suboxone, is not going to go out and commit crimes to obtain drugs, they are not giving their money to the illegal drug dealers anymore either, so thats a bad thing for the cartels and LE.
I would not be surprised to see more restrictions placed on Suboxone and doctors that give it out, its bad for business.
creating and fighting multiple black markets is VERY lucrative
you think of the money spent on prisons, law enforcement, etc
that's chump change compared to the billions of blood dollars out there to be confiscated in raids...or taken in payouts...
Id like to see the DEA exposed for who they are truly working for. I think maybe in the long term future, when the drug war is ancient history, they will dig deep into it and find that US law enforcement was in collusion with those supplying the drugs and the dealers themselves.
Although its pretty common knowledge that the CIA and FBI were directly involved in the cocaine trade back in the 70s and 80s (they have even made movies about it), but Ive yet to hear anyone calling for those agencies to be punished for what they did...that is odd, I wouldnt think the american people would put up with that.
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