The drug problem: how is it in your area? (Boston: most dangerous, activities)

[western mass and love it]

D.A.R.E hasn't been around for long time. Mostly because it was ineffectual.

[in_newengland]

Are they locking the drug dealers up? All I read in the papers is that they have arrested another one, busted another drug ring, etc. For something that's so serious that it completely ruins people's lives, destroys, families, encourages burglary, and who knows what else--it should be dealt with by extremely punitive means. I'm for something like very long terms in prison or even life. What the dealers do is almost as bad as murder when they destroy a person's brain so that he is like a vegetable for the rest of his life. Not to mention the drain on society and the expense of caring for the people who have been mostly destroyed by these criminals.

[Cliff Clavin]

Originally Posted by in_newengland

Are they locking the drug dealers up? All I read in the papers is that they have arrested another one, busted another drug ring, etc. For something that's so serious that it completely ruins people's lives, destroys, families, encourages burglary, and who knows what else--it should be dealt with by extremely punitive means. I'm for something like very long terms in prison or even life. What the dealers do is almost as bad as murder when they destroy a person's brain so that he is like a vegetable for the rest of his life. Not to mention the drain on society and the expense of caring for the people who have been mostly destroyed by these criminals.

The court system is a mess. When a suspected dealer is arrested, the 'alleged drugs' need to be sent off to a crime lab for testing. The labs are so backed up, it takes months for the results to come back, and the DA can't move to trial without the results. If the DA isn't prepared to move to trial in a reasonable amount of time, the judge dismisses the case.

[scoobydew]

Originally Posted by in_newengland

Are they locking the drug dealers up? All I read in the papers is that they have arrested another one, busted another drug ring, etc. For something that's so serious that it completely ruins people's lives, destroys, families, encourages burglary, and who knows what else--it should be dealt with by extremely punitive means. I'm for something like very long terms in prison or even life. What the dealers do is almost as bad as murder when they destroy a person's brain so that he is like a vegetable for the rest of his life. Not to mention the drain on society and the expense of caring for the people who have been mostly destroyed by these criminals.

I've got no use for drug dealers whom I would also equate to pond scum. That said, this problem is too big to jail all the dealers. The solution needs to be from the demand side. Supply side enforcement is necessary, but it won't solve the problem. We need to concentrate on the reasons people in our society are looking to chemicals to wash away their misery or to get what they perceive to be "fun." Once we do that, we then need to start implementing countermeasures from an early age.

[in_newengland]

Originally Posted by scoobydew

I've got no use for drug dealers whom I would also equate to pond scum. That said, this problem is too big to jail all the dealers. The solution needs to be from the demand side. Supply side enforcement is necessary, but it won't solve the problem. We need to concentrate on the reasons people in our society are looking to chemicals to wash away their misery or to get what they perceive to be "fun." Once we do that, we then need to start implementing countermeasures from an early age.

It doesn't do any good though. Earlier in this discussion people were talking about the reasons people get into drugs. Somebody concluded that it's hopeless. So the other approach would be to lock these criminals up for life. Get them off the streets. I don't care if they have to build huge new jails to contain them but get them O-U-T.

[scoobydew]

Originally Posted by in_newengland

It doesn't do any good though. Earlier in this discussion people were talking about the reasons people get into drugs. Somebody concluded that it's hopeless. So the other approach would be to lock these criminals up for life. Get them off the streets. I don't care if they have to build huge new jails to contain them but get them O-U-T.

What doesn't do any good? What I'm talking about hasn't been done.

As for jails, you could drain the state budget for the next ten years building new jails and still not have enough room for the dealers who will replace the ones being locked up. Do you realize how many people are involved in the distribution of a drugs in just ONE operation? The answer is A LOT.

[in_newengland]

A compilation of most of the reasons people on this forum think people become drug addicts. We know the reasons aren't that people are stupid and uneducated but can anyone come up with a real way to stop this? As far as I can see, we seem to know why people do it but no one knows how to stop it. Since nothing seems to have done any, if much good so far, all I can say is lock the dealers up. Drugs are all over the place but maybe if we lock up the dealers in MA, the rest of them might think twice before coming here.

Originally Posted by scoobydew

What doesn't do any good? What I'm talking about hasn't been done.

As for jails, you could drain the state budget for the next ten years building new jails and still not have enough room for the dealers who will replace the ones being locked up. Do you realize how many people are involved in the distribution of a drugs in just ONE operation? The answer is A LOT.

We are an over medicated society. Some just choose to get their fix at the street level. For many it starts with a doctor's prescription.

...acquire pharma grade opiates, begin abusing them due to other life stressors, and end up buying street heroin because it is cheap and relatively easy to acquire. It happens at a rather violent pace - white collar job, colonial home in a good school district, new Lexus ... 18 months later they're divorced, unemployed, and living a transitional home.

"Don't lie and tell them they will make you feel bad. Because the truth is, they make you feel really good to start out with. And when your kid feels good, they think, my parents lied, or what do they know? The bad comes when it's too late to stop."

Why they do it and stuff is obvious. It's cheap, it's something one may try at a party not realizing the addictive nature and lastly people have issues and think escaping through drugs will cure their woes.

Because we have raised a society of pansies unable to deal with life's hardships, challenges and disappointments without that quick fix or "escape"

If that is the answer then the heroin problem is a lost cause because we cannot recondition people from that type of upbringing. It is said that childhood is the time when people are most impressionable. To try to change that mindset in someone else as an adult is probably impossible and I say this as an optimist who has never shied away from a reasonable challenge.

[scoobydew]

Originally Posted by in_newengland

A compilation of most of the reasons people on this forum think people become drug addicts. We know the reasons aren't that people are stupid and uneducated but can anyone come up with a real way to stop this? As far as I can see, we seem to know why people do it but no one knows how to stop it. Since nothing seems to have done any, if much good so far, all I can say is lock the dealers up. Drugs are all over the place but maybe if we lock up the dealers in MA, the rest of them might think twice before coming here.



We are an over medicated society. Some just choose to get their fix at the street level. For many it starts with a doctor's prescription.

...acquire pharma grade opiates, begin abusing them due to other life stressors, and end up buying street heroin because it is cheap and relatively easy to acquire. It happens at a rather violent pace - white collar job, colonial home in a good school district, new Lexus ... 18 months later they're divorced, unemployed, and living a transitional home.

"Don't lie and tell them they will make you feel bad. Because the truth is, they make you feel really good to start out with. And when your kid feels good, they think, my parents lied, or what do they know? The bad comes when it's too late to stop."

Why they do it and stuff is obvious. It's cheap, it's something one may try at a party not realizing the addictive nature and lastly people have issues and think escaping through drugs will cure their woes.

Because we have raised a society of pansies unable to deal with life's hardships, challenges and disappointments without that quick fix or "escape"

If that is the answer then the heroin problem is a lost cause because we cannot recondition people from that type of upbringing. It is said that childhood is the time when people are most impressionable. To try to change that mindset in someone else as an adult is probably impossible and I say this as an optimist who has never shied away from a reasonable challenge.

We do lock dealers up. We do it every day, and the prisons are teeming with them. We also need cells for other violent offenders.

We need drastic changes in our culture if we expect to stop drug abuse. Drug interdiction is barely keeping our heads above water but it's not solving the problem and we need to focus on demand. In my opinion, social problems have gotten worse as we have driven spirituality from our culture and we have become obsessed with materialism. People use substances to fill a void in themselves. Fill some of the voids, and you might begin to curb the demand for inebriation.

Keep promoting a primarily materialistic driven culture where we try to fix ourselves from the outside instead of the inside and the social problems, including addiction, will only get worse in my humble opinion.

[Whatsnext75]

I don't think sending these people to jail does much. They need to be sent to rehab not jail but it sounds like that's too expensive. It just doesn't seem right that it becomes the state's problem. I can't even wrap my head around that meth clinic that's right outside the pine st inn. People just line up for the stuff and how helpful has that program been??

[LeavingMA]

Originally Posted by scoobydew

I have to disagree. The causes of addiction are complex and I've seen no research that correlates it to intelligence. In some cases its roots are found in heredity and from growing up in dysfunction. Emotionally unhealthy people can, at the same time, be extremely intelligent. Our society is filled with "functional" people who are addicted to alcohol. Many are very smart and yet, they go out and douse their brains with booze each night. Addiction can progress based on a lot of factors. Some can go from alcohol to pot, to heroin in a short period of time. Others will maintain addiction to a drug on the lower end of the spectrum.



I agree wholeheartedly. Observations of certain professional people will quickly demonstrate this. Many are highly educated morons. At the same time, just as many tradesmen with no college education show high IQ when tested. Comparatively speaking, very little in the world is black and white.

Addiction is strange, but in many ways everyone is addicted to something...but it isn't always what people consider to be "bad". You can be addicted to work, exercise, heroin, tv, video games, and a common one that nobody considers is caffeine. Addiction is a very common problem, the only thing that changes is what people are addicted to.