INC NEWS - Give dealers the credit - today's Herald Sun

Wed Dec 7 19:08:16 EST 2005

Ken, I disagree with your facts.  I don't believe any drug is more dangerous than another.  It is well established that most crack users are not crack addicts, and in fact are middle-class white people who hold jobs and have fairly stable lives.  Crack cocaine is no different, physiologically, than regular cocaine - it just comes in cheaper, smaller doses.  Poor people, particularly poor black people, are disporportionately targeted by law enforcement, and the disfunctional behavior of these poor folks is not primarily the result of the effects of illegal drugs.  Indeed, the drugs can be argued to be as much a poor attempt at self-medication.

But your views are the norm - most people, including, I am sad to say, a great many so-called experts - use the same reasoning.  I believe that the evidence shows that hard-core addicts of any drug demonstrate behavior that is independent of the physiological effects of the drug.  In other words, you or I could take those same drugs and not act at all in the same manner.  Indeed, we would probably find the effects of most "illegal" drugs - particularly narcotics - really unpleasant (constipation and sexual impotence) and wonder why in the world anyone would want to take them.  Yet if we were in physical pain, the "pain would eat the drugs" and we would be very grateful for the narcotics, and would have very little chance (2%) of iatrogenic addiction (i.e. addiction as a result of therapeutic use).

I studied addiction and drug policy in Washington, DC for a year in 1994.  Very instructive.  Other countries, by the way, have very sensible drug policies (eg Great Britain, which permits physicians to prescribe heroin pills to addicts).

In sum, I do not fear ectasy, methamphetamines, crack or any other drug in normal, well-adjusted people - they will discover soon enough that they are probably not willing to pay the price of the effects of these drugs.  And I certainly don't think the way to help the problem folks is to put them in jail.  By the way, by far the most dangerous drug, in terms of physiological effects and consequences for bad behaviors (eg physical abuse of spouses and children) is:  alcohol.  We stopped putting people in jail for manufacture and distribution of alcohol some years ago, after a disastrous period which encouraged the rise of the Mafia.  Alcohol continues to be a scourge in a small percentage of people, and I am afraid it will always be so, as long as we have disfunctional individuals in the world.  Yet even serious alcoholics can hold jobs and live relatively stable lives, though shortened and of poorer quality.

I once asked Mike Easley, while he was still Attorney General, and who started his political career on the prosecution of illegal drug dealers as a District Attorney, how many crimes he had prosecuted in connection with illegal drugs which were due solely to the effect of the drug on the criminal, and not to turf wars or to crimes committed to get money for drugs.  Mr. Easley was unable to remember a single instance of prosecuting a crime in which the primary instigation was mere drug use.

Cheers -

Deb
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Ken Gasch 
  To: Deb Christie ; inc-list at durhaminc.org 
  Sent: Wednesday, December 07, 2005 5:18 PM
  Subject: Re: INC NEWS - Give dealers the credit - today's Herald Sun

  I used to subscribe to parts of your theory in the past.  I can appreciate the argument.  

  However, 1912 was way before the advent of super addictive drugs like crystal meth and crack cocaine.  These drugs destroy human beings, families and communities.  

  Mothers addicted to crack turn tricks in order to buy that next rock while their children live in houses where the cock roaches and rats no longer run away when the lights are turned on.  

  Most battles worth fighting are not easy to win.

  Data on the crack epidemic suggests that we are, in fact, winning the war on drugs.

  Ken Gasch

  ----- Original Message ----- 
    From: Deb Christie 
    To: Ken Gasch ; inc-list at durhaminc.org 
    Sent: Wednesday, December 07, 2005 2:54 PM
    Subject: Re: INC NEWS - Give dealers the credit - today's Herald Sun

    Dear friends,

    To me, ever-increasing sizes of illegal drug busts mean only that more and more drugs are available - it is no victory.  Indeed, no victory is possible.  We are fighting a losing war on drugs.

    The only sensible solution is to treat all drugs under appropriate medical regulations, and permit committed drug users to obtain their drugs under the supervision of a physician.  Methadone clinics are one such program.  

    It is no help to me to arrest drug users and dealers and put them in prison - there are simply more to come.  I want to reduce the harm to the vast majority of us who do not use drugs, and spend our precious taxes on drug treatment, not incarceration.  I also want to reduce the harm to the drug users themselves, by not making their addiction worse through incarceration (where there are no shortage of illegal drugs).

    Some of our grandparents were born before our illegal drug laws (inacted around 1912), and our parents (and even many of us) were born before the terrible escalation of the war on drugs.  We can return to those good old days before drug use was demonized, and adopt a sensible drug regulation policy.

    Cheers and hope to all -

    Deb Christie

      ----- Original Message ----- 
      From: Ken Gasch 
      To: inc-list at durhaminc.org 
      Sent: Tuesday, December 06, 2005 11:34 AM
      Subject: INC NEWS - Give dealers the credit - today's Herald Sun

            Give dealers the credit 

            Lovemore Masakadza's Dec. 1 article, "Police step up raids and seize more drugs" did a fine job of showing the contrast between Durham present and Durham past. The quantities of confiscated drugs was a whopping five times that of last year. Well, bravo! But now, instead of pointing fingers of blame at each other, the police want to credit the community for this great gain. While the community feels it's the police who are doing an outstanding job. Masakadza did a fine job himself getting to the truth. It's the strengthening of the police/community partnership that helped post these impressive confiscation figures. Now both groups have been joined by Realtors, property managers, PAC2 and INC, city employees, and plenty of others. We're all standing and clapping, so why isn't anyone taking a bow? Since none of the partners seem willing to accept the kudos they've earned, I have an idea. Let's honor our drug dealers! Without them, none of these great partnerships would exist. We'll throw a huge party with everyone invited! Speeches will be made, and special invitations will be hand delivered. We'll gift the honorees free room and board, expensive bracelets, and even free clothing. So we all know who to applaud, we'll dress our heroes in orange jumpsuits! What fun this will be. Now, where could we hold such a large celebration? How about criminal and civil courts? The more the merrier, so pass the word! Good job, everyone. 

            BILL ANDERSON
            DURHAM
            December 6, 2005 

      Appeared in today's editorial page of HS.

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