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Subscribe to RSSDeaths from heroin abuse rose from six in 1999 to thirty in 2011, and this year it is on track to be even worse. NBC's Kate Snow reports.
Yardena Schwartz
NBC News
Chicago Police Capt. John Roberts never thought that moving to the suburbs would mean that his 14-year-old son Billy would immediately be introduced to drugs. And never did he ever imagine that Billy, a high school athlete, would even think of touching heroin.
After 33 years in the Chicago Police Department, Roberts was finally ready to retire. He couldn’t wait to move his family out to the suburbs, where he thought his kids would live in a safer environment, attend better schools and be sheltered from some of the ugly realities of city life.
But after growing addicted to prescription painkillers, Billy and his friends could no longer afford their habit. They soon turned to heroin, which they could buy for a tenth of the price of their favorite pill, Oxycontin. Billy was 19 when he died of a heroin overdose, but he wasn’t the only one of his friends to suffer that fate.
John Roberts, a retired Chicago police captain, started the Heroin Epidemic Relief Organization after losing his teenage son to a heroin overdose.
At first, Roberts couldn’t believe what was happening to his family , and that heroin could affect a good kid like Billy. But then he realized he wasn’t alone.
Across the country, heroin use is growing at an alarming rate and is affecting a surprising segment of the population.
“Kids in the city know not to touch it, but the message never got out to the suburbs,” said Roberts, who founded the Heroin Epidemic Relief Organization to help other families cope with the shock of teen heroin use. Like most parents in upper-middle class neighborhoods, Roberts said, “We didn’t think it would ever be a problem out here.”
According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, initiations to heroin have increased 80 percent among 12- to 17-year-olds since 2002. In 2009, the most recent year for which national data is available, 510 young adults between the ages of 15 and 24 died of a heroin overdose. That figure was just 198 in 1999, meaning that the rate of young adult deaths caused by heroin more than doubled in one decade. Close to 90 percent of teen heroin addicts are white, data show.
Recovered teen heroin addict Alyssa Dedrick and her mother, Mary, discuss their family's struggle with addiction, and how in the suburbs, heroin abuse is "right under our noses."
Crackdown on painkiller abuse fuels new wave of heroin addiction
“Part of the problem is they don’t realize how bad it is,” said Roberts. “After Billy used it a few times, he thought he was OK, because he didn’t seem like a junkie.”
The biggest problem seems to be the connection between prescription painkillers and heroin. The opiate high that teens seek from drugs such as Oxycodone (the actual drug contained in OxyContin brand pills) may also be obtained from heroin, which is much cheaper, easier to buy, and offers users a more intense high.
“It’s hard to talk about the heroin problem without talking about the prescription drug problem,” notes Rafael Lemaitre, of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy. Given new research on skyrocketing prescription drug abuse, the link between opioid pills and heroin is even more alarming.
The number of teenagers seeking treatment for heroin abuse has skyrocketed, and the number of deaths from heroin among high school and college-age kids more than doubled from 1999 to 2009. NBC's Kate Snow reports.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, deaths from prescription drugs tripled nationwide between 2000 and 2008. In a recent national survey on teen drug abuse conducted by the University of Michigan, one in eight high school seniors admitted to using prescription painkillers they weren’t prescribed. Overall, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, drug overdose (from both prescription and non-prescription drugs) is now the leading cause of accidental deaths in the United States. Officials fear that the over-prescription of powerful painkillers and the lack of awareness about the danger associated with them could continue to fuel the problem.
“Kids are going to believe that this is not a problem, and parents are going to continue to leave their prescription opioids unattended if they don’t know about the risks,” said Westley Clark, director of the Center for Substance Abuse Treatment at the Department of Health and Human Services.
While marijuana has historically been the usual suspect, prescription pain killers are now becoming the latest and most dangerous gateway drugs.
In dozens of interviews with former young heroin addicts, NBC News found that every single heroin user had arrived at shooting up the same way: starting with expensive prescription drugs, which they purchased from friends for $20-$60. When they became too addicted to afford pills, they listened to friends who told them they could get a better, cheaper high if they used heroin instead. For $3-$10 a bag, they said, they started off by snorting the drug, never thinking that they would end up injecting it. Most of them started shooting up within weeks.
Alyssa Dedrick was an honor roll student from a nice Boston suburb, and her high school’s cheerleading captain, until she discovered Oxycontin. When she and her friends could no longer afford the pills, they tried smoking heroin. Dedrick, now 23 and fully recovered, never imagined she would ever try the drug, let alone plan on injecting it. She said she just wanted to see what it was like, but within a week she was putting a needle in her arm.
Chris O’Connor grew up in a loving Catholic family in a wealthy Boston suburb. His father works in commercial real estate, his mother is a homemaker. For a while, O’Connor was able to hide the fact that he was driving to the city on a regular basis to score heroin from dealers on the street. He earned excellent grades in high school, and even went on to study at Georgetown University, where he did pretty well at first.
“I just thought it wouldn’t affect me,” said O’Connor, who is now 27 and still recovering after more than 20 stints in treatment. “People who come from a privileged background are generally shielded from negative outcomes in life,” he said.
With the cost of prescription drugs on the rise and heroin becoming purer and cheaper, the drug that spawns fear in other generations has become more appealing to a younger set.
For teens living near major cities, heroin can also be easier to buy than prescription drugs. Rather than having to find someone who has a prescription, they can just do what Chris O’Connor did and take a quick drive into the city, where they know they can score at any hour of the day.
According to the National Drug Intelligence Center, Mexican heroin production has increased significantly in recent years, from an estimated 7 metric tons in 2002, to 50 metric tons in 2011. That sevenfold increase has made heroin more available in metropolitan areas across the country, including Missouri, New York, North Carolina, Illinois, Pennsylvania and South Carolina.
For families like the O’Connors, who once considered themselves immune to heroin, the crucial difference between life and death was early recognition, treatment and constant support.
It’s taken Chris more than a decade, but he can now triumphantly say he’s been clean for at least a year. Many of the friends he once used with have not been as fortunate.
“I think ultimately what saved my life was the love of my family, being there for me unconditionally,” he said. “I had so many psychologists and therapists. The best ones weren’t the smartest ones, they were the ones who cared the most.”
Resources for addiction recovery:
Heroin Epidemic Relief Organization (HERO)
National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)
Partnership for a Drug Free America
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2 points need reinforcing here... "Heroin" was a BRAND NAME for a drug first marketed by the Bayer Co. in Germany, in 1880... Yes, the SAME company that gave the world Bayer Childrens' Aspirin, ALSO gave the world HEROIN... This article says Mexican heroin production went from 7tons in 2002, to 50tons in 2011...
What did Afghanistans' opium poppy production do, in the same time?... (hint: it went WAY UP....)
All you good little repubtard&demo-craps go bow down to your LEGAL DRUG GODS, the Pharmaceutical industry... Drug Co. investors are LAUGHING all the way to the bank...
Unfortunately where there's a school system there are probably drugs. Condolences to this boys family. The best defense against drug use, besides getting rid of all the pushers (good luck with that) is education. There needs to be a D.A.R.E. program in every community across the country. In addition there is a non profit group in CA call a Drug Free World. I highly recommend everyone reading these blogs today google or bing and visit their website. I believe they have the most comprehensive educational drug program available. Knowledge is power and every parent and child can be empowered in the fight against drug abuse including prescriptions drugs which is one of our top killers these days.
The "War On Drugs" is no different from any other kind of war. There is always going to be a certain amount of collateral damage. As I have said many times before we tend to create our own monsters in our lives. This is just one of many. Before we declared this war we really had no drug problem in society. In fact the drug users of the day were generally shunned and despised by society as "junkies" and losers. Once we made an issue of drug use with this idiotic prohibition we simply repeated the same mistakes that we had made previously with alcohol. It gave drugs a certain mystique and cache for those who wanted to "live on the edge" and be a bit socially rebellious.
Trouble is that most drugs are far more addictive than alcohol ever could be simply because much smaller doses are required to obtain the desired effects. Also it is much easier to conceal a small bottle of pills or powder than it is a quart of alcohol and it only takes a few minutes to ingest a significant amount of drugs when compared to drinking enough alcohol to get totally inebriated. Another consideration is that you usually get very sick before you can overdose on alcohol but drugs can kill you in just a matter of minutes before anyone even realizes that you are in trouble.
So once again we are going about the drug problem all wrong and have been for 70 years. It is time to reconsider our approach or prepare to bury a lot more young people way before their time. It is also way beyond time to reconsider our classifications on the various drugs. Cannabis is harmless and useful whereas heroine and cocaine should only be used under medical supervision. The judicious use of pain medication by licensed physicians is necessary but now we have created a situation where even that is difficult to get because of the liability issues. As I said we create our own monsters.
And people worry about teens smoking cigarettes!
Quit wasting tax dollars! End the war on drugs. Drug use and abuse cannot be stopped.
I'd just like to add that your reports statistics are far off most teen to young adults that commit suicide now adays is from prescription pain killers and herion use because of the withdraw effect it has when they dont have the drug. I have personally seen many of my use to be friends throw there lives completely away with the use of prescription drugs and herion sum have committed suicide sum just have no desire to even change. My cousin is now in his second stint in rehab because of this problem it effects everyone no matter where you live, and honestly you can not shield your kids from drugs or any problem no matter how hard you try you can't because high school and even middle school is where the problem lies. Thats where kids become introduced to everything and thats when its there choice not anyone else's to shape there immediate future.
Although we'd like to think there is a way to stop this, the sad fact of the matter is, there isn't. We've been waging war on drugs for decades, and the problem only gets worse with new and more innovative ways to score and get new levels of high. Each individual has a choice and if you choose to destroy your life and the lives of your family through drug use, then where does that blame originate? You can take a kid with the finest education and up-bringing, but if he decides to use the drug, then it is all for nothing. We're seeing that, like cancer, drug abuse knows no age, color, ethnic or financial boundaries. It's insidious and pervasive.
The solution to ALL this nonsense is IN the home. It's called "discipline". Because Americans have become so loving,.....look at the results of their "newly educated minds". How sickening. And the government is worse.
Before we waste our breathe trying to talk to our children, we should focus on the suppliers. Heroin was on the rise while we were in Vietnam. Now we are in the middle east where poppies=opium=heroin is their main cash crop. Now how does it get from the middle east to here ? God forbid we should think our soliders are bringing it back....... maybe its the tooth fairy bringing it home.
Legalize it, control the strength, tax it and price it so our children cant afford it. For all those that are careless and overdose.. adios !
Im not uneducated in this subject... I used heroin back in the 60's - 70's.. I lost a lot of fellow users. I simply got lucky and kicked it on my own..Now doesnt legalization of marijuana seem less destructive ? We have lost the drug wars long ago. Dont ya think we can find another way ?
Heaven help us!For NMRawker,
Although you as a parent (s) have a horrible quality of life because of your children's drug addiction, the article was not about the parent's problems, it was addressing the abusers.
I don't mean to downplay your situation in any way, God bless you and your family.
This article will hopefully bring to light the world our children live in, which most Americans are not aware of.
Respectively,
CJR
Wake up people, why do you think were in the middle east? Its not just oil it,s also opium. Thanks to us Afghanistan now supplie,s more then 90% of the worlds Opium, its all about big buisness. First we get them hooked then once there strung out they go to treatment center,s where they supply more dope to help you get off dope it,s all about $ Example: I was diagnosed with lupus over 15 years ago which cause,s severe chronic pain, when I asked for a painkiller she looked at me like I was nuts and got nothing now fast forward to 2012 I talk my girlfriend to the same Rheumatologist that DX me and she came out with 2 scripts 1 for 100 10mg percs and 1 for 100 10mg oxycontin. Once again its all about money.
I never lived in or experienced a country that had a drug problem that did not "deserve" it. That includes the US. The USA has about the dumbest way of dealing with what is a "socail problem" which has become a "criminal problem". To put an age limit on when a person is considered to be an adult is absurd. 18 year olds are no more mature than a two year old. There are exceptions of course. No one should be allowed to purchase alcoholic beverages unles that posess a "scannable" ID card, which can only be obtained form some federal government office and only after they pass an exam that includes a test of how alcohol afects the brain. Not the damage it does but how it affects the "receptors " in the brain that are acted upon by intoxicating substances. This information is widely known but people are not informed and no one is denied the ability to buy alcohol or is informed about what drugs that give a "high" do . There is "no road" back from heroin. All the hundreds of thousands spent by health insurance companies is all wasted. No one gets truly free from heroin. The "so-called" "former" heroin users who work in these rehab facilities still "take it on the side". Yet they are "supposedly " helping users to get free of the drug. All of the counties in every state are forced to pay for "free" treatment for medicaid and they are taking innocent property owners money to spend on rehab that is "valueless". These people spend three weeks and get free food and lodging and all they do is bum money off people to make phone calls. It is just a brief "hiatus" from the world of drugs. If you have a son or daughter who is living in your home and making all your possessions "disappear" to buy drugs, then you need to change the locks on your door and kick them out and take all of their clothes and shoes and sneakers and put them in a clothing drop off box. Empty out their room, sell all their possessions and keep them away from your property. Sending them to rehab is a waste of time and money. The writer who spoke about how the tobacco companies and breweries and phamaceuticals lobbied against marijuan use is correct. While I could never advocate the use of marijuana it is no where near as addictive as the other drugs and painkillers spoken of here. It should be sold and taxed just as cogarettes are sold and taxed. And no one under the age of 22 should have access to it. Not 21 since it takes usually until 22 to finsih a four year college degree or get a job in the workplace. Even then noone should be allowed to buy it without a federal intoxicant-mind altering drug scannable card. In short, "control" its sale and use and tax it. Instead of wasting billions of dollars on drug rehab programs that do not work the federal government and state governments could be collecting taxes on marijuana and alcohol. I, myself purchase none of these things. You could not give me a case of the highest cost liquor of other alcohol. I would just dump it down the sink. I have no use for it. I have no use of marijuana. So what is the answer to our drug addicted citizens? There is one and only one as long as they are not offended by where it is found. That answer is God and Jesus Christ. Only Jesus Christ can free a person of drugs and even then they will stumble and fall due to the chemistry of the brain.
So your answer to addiction is get religion?
*sigh*
That might be the solution for some people which is fine, whatever works to get someone off serious hard drugs is a good thing. But, I don't think that would be the cure-all for everyone.
.
Oh G'Damn! A lot of you people are just plain stupid or so out of touch with reality concerning what is and has been going on for so many years that it is pathetic to say the least. Prior to moving out to Southern California three years ago I lived in Huntsville, Alabama, a very modern All-American-City so to speak. Huntsville is not only home to the Army’s Redstone Arsenal Facility it is home to the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center along with the fact that every major defense contractor from Boeing to you name it have a facility there; some of the firms there are players that the average American has never heard of. The point is that there is more money there than you can shake a stick at as well as some of the most educated people in this country and made up not only Americans but of people from all over the educated world. Along with those people are their families. They are well to do and in a lot of cases mom and pop both are pulling down six figure salaries. That is a WHOLE LOT OF ROSIE I can tell you that. In a lot of cases the kids are driving Jags and Porsches to the local high school. According to the census Huntsville is a city with a population of a little over 180,000; this does not take into account the surrounding areas where a lot of them have moved their families to, that being the county of Madison of which Huntsville is located in and the adjoining counties of Limestone and Morgan. The problem of prescription pain killers started there well before Obama taking office and the war in Afghanistan or Iraq. The same problems that plague Huntsville also plague other well to do cities in Alabama such as Hoover and Vestavia Hills which are suburbs of Birmingham. When you are talking about OXCY's which go for a dollar per milli gram then you are tlaking about the kids that can afford them; thus you are talking about a lot of well to do white kids. Several years sgo in Hoover alone they were dropping like flies from over dose on the pills. If it were Black or Hispanic kids over dosing you would never hear about it. BTW- I am White other than the partial Creek and Cherokee I sport in my family tree. It may interest some to know that in Huntsville alone there are three operating methadone clinics that serve thousands per day to the tune of about $13.00 per day per dose per individual. I know this to be FACT. And in many cases the people that go to these clinics are 18-25 years old. They got there because they were busted with a gram or two of pot on a simple possession charge. However, when they went to court, the court mandates that they be screened for substance abuse. When the go for the screening they are told they have a drug problem and the shrinks report back to the court with a recommendation that the kid be placed on methadone maintenance. Now you have a kid that had a slight pot habit with a By-God dope habit he has to support. And, if you go there and observe what you will see is a bunch of white kids. Not all of them are well to do with parents knocking down the big bucks; they are kids with mediocre jobs and a kid or two of their own. In most cases you will find that it is a young couple and both are on The Clinic. It is all one big money game for the companies that own the clinics and the doctor who heads it up. And this is happening in other states and cities all over this country my friends.
Addiction is a chronic, progressive brain disease of the Limbic "reward" system, which is not only involved in the experience of pleasure, but is also central to learning, decision-making and motivation. Addicts make terrible decisions because it is their brain's decision-making apparatus that malfunctions.
For a website that discusses the science of addiction in accessible English (what makes it a chronic, progressive disease; what parts of the brain malfunction; how that malfunction results in addict behaviors; how addicts' decision-making is skewed by substance abuse; why some get addicted while others don't; how treatment works; why relapse is common; what family and friends can do; etc.) please click on www.AddictScience.com.
Thank you for your intelligence! No one seems to understand that addiction is a medical disease. This chain of comments seems to focus on political weirdness rather than the life threatening epidemic at hand.
Education is the way to go—it gets rid of the problem before it starts. But yes, I mean real education. As in, going as far as taking these drugs down to a molecular level and explaining how and why drugs affect you, not just drilling it to them to "just say no". Explain why. You should also explain all the attributes, including the positives, the good ways these drugs are used by health professionals. In the UK heroin is used in the same way morphine is used in the US. Both are extremely addictive, as are most heavy pain relievers, but they do have the health properties for those who actually need it. Even alcohol, in moderation, is supposed to be good for your heart. As for the negatives, that one guy had the right idea about showing your kids what can happen if you abuse these drugs such as jail, death, extreme health complications and consequences, etc. For this kind of stuff, you cannot shield your kids from life's realities. You have to show it to them raw. As for "discipline" be a parent, not a dictator. The more you talk to them on an educational level and show them that you're on their side and just looking out for them the more they'll be willing to comply and listen. It's called having a healthy relationship with your children. I know my dad was a druggie when he was a kid, and I grew up hearing about how badly it messed him up, debilitating him for life. I also had a grandfather who smoked and drank absurdly his whole life. There was so much cancer in his body, it would be easier to tell you where it hadn't spread to. He laid in hospice for months, completely aware of losing his mind and hallucinating. He died slowly and painfully. These are the realities that keep kids clean. No one is doing them any justice by either keeping them ignorant or treating education like a punishment. They should want to not do drugs. Maybe even get some history in there. Like heroin? Initially it was supposed to be a non-addictive substitute for morphine. Boy were they wrong. Opium bars? Those were quite popular not too long ago. Many a person lost their money and lives to those. Make it interesting. Like in WWII morphine was given as a ration to soldiers and when they returned home it was called the "soldier's disease" because they had all suddenly become horribly addicted. There're loads of information and examples you can give your kids without looking like a tyrant to them. Just talk to them, you'd be surprised at the results.
What about marijuana?
I have to agree with NMRawker~ we lost a son to heroine addiction last year. We are in NW indiana near Illinois, where he could easily get what he wanted at any time of the day. Even with treatment centers & loving people in his life the battle was lost. The one thing I can tell anyone who is going through the pain of a loved one with an addiction to heroin is that the drug is one of the hardest to break free from. Ours had been clean for 6 months when he relapsed. The ease and availability of heroin is unbelivable! There have been so many OD's & deaths from heroin in our little county the last two years. It is devistating families across the country and seems that there is no end in sight. For anyone reading this: if you start noticing important objects or cash missing from your home,sleeping standing up, being extremely funny, working like an ox till they pass out, is some of the leading signs, test your children for opiates!!! I cannot say strongly enough how important it is to be on top of this. You have to stop it early before it takes over your childrens lives or takes their lives. we had so many things & money stolen, sold, pawned or bartered to get the fix he needed. He was a vibrant young man who had a whole life ahead of him & the drug took all that from him and took him from us. PLEASE pay attention to your children no matter what age they are and watch for the signs. Tell them time & time again what happens when you use heroin even just ONCE, if there is such a person who has tried it & not done it again & again. Use tough love & find an ALANON program to help yourself deal with all the crazy things that happen. I will say that the authorities do NOT know what to do with all the kids they are suddenly dealing with that are using heroin. A bit of jail time & fines. It is not at all like any other drug known to mankind. it is an evil evil drug that destroys whatever it touches!
This problem has been in the United States now for more then 100 years in one form or another.
In the 1800's it was opum in the early 1920's it was herion and other drugs, it came back in the 50's 60's and 70's and now it's back again history never changes just the faces.
All we can do is try to limit the ammount of people whom may become addicted to drugs.
And assist them if need be but to lock them up for doing something to their body when all they need is help does not solve a thing.
But understand this if you commit a crime in order to get the drugs though your ass up under the jail and pay the price.
Also here's one thing no one is talking about if law enforcement can find the person whom sold the drugs and someone dies then they should be charged with murder yes murder because I feel they killed this person just as if they robbed a store and someone died when they pulled the gun in the robbery.
No one should die just because you wanted to make some easy money.
Also Karen I'm so sorry to hear about your young 16 year old son dieing from this @!$%#! It should have never happened.
John- 383321------- I am going to go out on a limb here and think that you meant "social problem" when you wrote "socail problem" which has become a "criminal problem"
I agree with you in that this so called drug problem is a "SOCIAL PROBLEM" However, we may or may not agree as to what that problem actually is. My personal view is that Americans are attempting to live in some sort of fantasy world when it comes to drugs or what ever you want to refer to them as. In our society it is a crooked street in that as long as a doctor is handing them out they are medications. Yet when a person attempts to self medicate themselves the same substances immediately turn into "DRUGS” I personally feel that we as a country should adopt more of an Eastern Philosophy towards medicine and or drugs. While in the Navy almost forty years ago I visited South Korea several times. I was amazed as well as impressed with what I saw there. At that time, though I do not know about now, just about everything you could name was legal for the Korean citizen to go to the drug store and purchase for their own medicinal use, even pharmaceutical grade cocaine which in 1980 went for $7.00 per gram. At the same time the street cocaine in Honolulu was going for about $120.00 per gram and was full of crap on a general basis. And ‘NO” I did not use back then; I held a Top Secret clearance in the Submarine Force and was a clean sailor. However, I knew many that were not but it was as with the gay thing, don’t ask-don’t tell! As long as they did it on the beach and not on Das Boot or on base I ignored it, even after becoming a senior Petty Officer. The reality with the Koreans was that that even though they had free access to what ever they wanted, they did not have much of a drug problem with their citizens. That is because it was SOCIALLY UNACCEPTABLE to be a JUNKIE or a problem drug user. It was just that simple. In this country is it totally different. We look down on the JUNKIE yet he has rights, he can’t be let go from his job or discriminated against in any way. Then if he simply admits he has a problem and makes an attempt at some type of therapy all is forgiven and he or she can be acceptable again over night. This was totally proven and played out by the former mayor of D.C. , Marion Barry back when he pulled his little escapades. Hell, they even voted him back into office after he was caught and disgraced and then went through so called REHAB. It was the same thing with Rush Limbaugh. In any society there is a percentage of the population that are simply going to screw up and go too far with something, even if it is only eating too much and becoming obese. In this country you have thousands of people drawing SSI checks simply because they are JUNKIES and have an addiction to a particular narcotic; this has been law since 1972 when it was inacted. Most Americans do not realize that this is even happening; and then people want to know what is wrong with the Social Security System in this country! So basically we need to legalize it all for the most part; let those that want to kill themselves on it do so and clean out the population of them. There goes your problem and the costs of the problem. However, that is going to put a whole lot of government leaches out of work is it not? Well we all know that we simply can not allow that; they, the government parasites have rights too!
The answer to the drug problem is to end the spectacularly failed costly Drug War.
They say the Drug War is over. Don't be fooled. As long as drugs remain criminalized the Drug War will never be over.
When is the U.S. government going to finally realize that it can't legislate morality? Many people believe the answer to solving our drug problem is to simply tell people to say "no" to drugs but after being in practice for decades now the evidence shows this has failed miserably. People have been doing drugs for thousands of years and it's never going to stop. There will always be people who do drugs and those who become addicted.
Didn't we learn from the mistakes of Alcohol Prohibition in the 1920s/30s? It didn't work then, and drug prohibition certainly isn't working now. The failed Drug War has cost the U.S. taxpayers over a trillion dollars and has been in force for over seven decades. And the real tragedy here is all of the violence that has been associated with the Drug War and illegal drug trafficking. Drugs are more readily available and the Drug War has created a black market, gangs in every U.S. state, and powerful violent cartels south of the border and in other countries.
The laws have done more damage to this country than the drugs themselves. We have created more criminals out of drug users/addicts who should really be treated as medical patients. Wouldn't we be better off spending the Drug War funding on education, drug treatment and rehabilitation instead of failed law enforcement and incarceration? And not having to build more prisons?
We need to reevaluate our position on drug use in this country. I firmly believe we should decriminalize all drugs. Legalize marijuana and regulate it like alcohol in regards to the law, and create an atmosphere that doesn't stigmatize the drug user. I would never advocate anyone use dangerous hard drugs like meth, cocaine, heroin, etc. But the fact of life remains people will choose to use such drugs and become addicted. Countries in Europe have tried different strategies that have reduced the problems associated with drug use. Why can't the U.S. take these same approaches? We should adopt programs for hard drugs (meth, coke, heroin,etc.) like the Swiss heroin program (where addicts can get their drugs from medically supervised clinics) which has shown positive results in reducing violent crime and HIV infections and helps drug addicts to become stable and productive members of society.
Locking people up and throwing away the key is not the answer. When someone has a real drug problem and is addicted their main focus will always be to obtain and use drugs, regardless of any law. And putting a mark on someone's permanent record that will follow them for the rest of their lives will only hinder them to become productive members in society in getting jobs, student financial aid, etc.
There are many people against legalizing and/or decriminalizing drugs and have expressed many fears and dooms day scenarios but evidence has revealed this would simply NOT be the result. Portugal decriminalized drugs in 2001 and none of the nightmare scenarios touted by preenactment decriminalization opponents have become a reality.
And what are the ramifications of manufacturing, importing, and selling the drugs right here in the U.S? Wouldn't that create a new industry? Jobs? Tax revenue? And stop funding the violent cartels and eventually take away their power?
These are questions that I think once answered, will solve our drug problems and the days of the Drug War will be history.
As a mother of an addicted teen daughter in the suburbs of NY, I appreciate the coverage given by MSNBC. Admittedly I cry when watching the clips and reading some of these posts. Clearly public education on the medical condition known as addiction is necessary. Most people view addicts as unworthy (addicts also view themselves as unworthy), scant funding for treatment interventions and research is the result. Frankly, I think pharm. companies that manufacture addictive pain killers/opiates should fund research to develop effective treatments. Opiates alter the neural connections in the brain, somewhere, somehow there must be a way to restore the brain back to a non addictive state. Currently the treatment modalities are not very effective. Families of all socioeconomic levels, every religion, every neighborhood are being destroyed. In the list of resources, please note, that there are no NY local support groups for families and addicts. We have a huge problem that requires immediate attention. In the long run, many teens will die of an OD or become unemployable and burdensome to society. No matter what political views one holds, addiction is devastating for American families. Until you have navigated the world of teen opiate addiction, you cannot imagine the lack of solutions and the lack of hope. Please consider bringing more stories to the public about teen addiction.
"Marijuana today isn't the same drug hippies smoked in the 70s," said Romulo Pizarro, the head of DEVIDA anti-drug program. "Today the drug is seven times more addictive because it has genetically been improved. It's effects are stronger."
Yep. Nope. Yep. In that order.
drugs kill dreams!!!! rehab quote from a heroine addict i knew "Fake It Till You Make It" 2 months after he said this he hung himself. His mother tried everything and in the end he wound up dead. don't use it EVER!!!!!
The more light that is shed on this predicament our society is in, the better. Knowledge is power...even if the subject matter is alarming and disturbing.