I have lost the thread,

that which tethers me to this world

and allowed me to share space with you.

I expand my sense of self.

Now boundless, I am lost in the timeless.

The environment is not recognizable, yet has a feeling of something familiar.

I surrender the pain that gave me identity

and am now free of the love which gave life meaning. 

I am empty while being carried away by the absurd expansion towards bliss.

            We are so accustomed to the American tradition of punishing drug users that it is hard for us to imagine any other way of preventing the use of these substances from being in our communities, or to perceive those who abuse them as anything other than criminals who deserve to be stripped of all human rights. You can see from all the movies and T.V dramas that glorify our military response to drugs we have as a culture accepted this us and them mentality. The truth is ever since the war on drugs was officially declared in 1971 by president Nixon, drugs have been winning and will continue to because as long as a demand for these drugs exist and some profit can be made, there will be many who are willing to take the risk and use force to provide that supply. These cartels now have large amounts of money from taking control of the black market that opened up as a direct result of our stance against drugs and are now in positions of great power in Mexico and parts of Latin America.  We have been here before and can see the parallels to prohibition in America on a much smaller scale. The newly created black market caused by the declaration of alcohol now being illegal, gave rise to the mafia. Other than just the increase of violence by going after dealers and users guns blazing, our policies surrounding drugs is also not based on any scientific evidence or understanding as to what actually is the root causes of addiction.

            It is clear our laws were molded by the notion that we can punish users due to the assumption that those who abuse substances are morally defected criminals whose need for the next hit is what’s to blame for the violence occruing within our communities. To quote former attorney general Jeff Session on April 5th 2015 during a hearing on the impact of recreational use of pot, he stated,  “Good people don’t smoke marijuana.” This view that we are right to make and enforce harsh punishments because we are morally superior thus obligated to do so, is exactly the type of ignorance that has been causing much of our problems with legislation addressing the issue of drugs use. This crucial misunderstanding has warped the truth of what is the cause for high rates of violence, which is actually poverty. We have mistaken the correlation of drug use and violence as the causation for it but all evidence shows if you are in an impoverished community with limited financial means to better yourself, the likelihood of experiencing or carrying out acts of violence goes up dramatically. Instead of providing paths for people to possibly transcend their situation and advance in life, we invest a majority of our resources in incarceration. Nearly 40 percent of people in prison are there for a non-violent drug offense. That is roughly half a million, of which a majority are blacks from low income areas. It is clear that drug law enforcement and incarceration are extremely costly and counterproductive. An estimated $50 billion is spent a year in an effort to eradicate drugs from our country and according to the DEA we capture less than 10 percent of all illicit drugs. Just imagine how much we would have to spend to capture 50 percent, let alone 100 percent. The amount of drugs coming in to meet the demand is too much to manage no matter how big or well armed our military response is, which is why we must shift our efforts towards education, harm reduction and therapeutic treatment, instead of how we have chosen to respond so far.

             Consider Holland for example, drugs fall under the jurisdiction of health agencies and not law enforcement. They have seen a drop in chronic use of hard drugs and casual use of softer drugs since decriminalization. They are not alone many other countries have also decriminalized the use of drugs and are saving large amounts of money that can be used in more positive beneficial ways. If illegal drugs are so obviously harmful to people’s health, why is it necessary to put so many American adults in prison to prevent them from using them? If people want to take drugs, people are going to find a way to get drugs. So then the only thing we can do as a community in response is provide enough education for those who do use to expand their perspective and possibly reconsider the decisions they are making. If the knowledge of how harmful the use of a particular drug is doesn’t discourage them from taking it, at the very least we could provide resources with harm reduction in mind. A prime example being purity testing zones, where any drug can be brought in and examined for free to be sure it isn’t a bad batch and the dosage can be safely administered. Also in Switzerland, in response to an increase in HIV as a result of shared needles,they have opened facilities to allow users access to clean needles and  saw a dramatic reduction of the totals number of people getting HIV within a short time frame. I would even advocate for safe houses where people can inject under medical supervision and be given resources to find employment by social workers as an incentive to change the current path they are on.

            The truth is that there are far more reasons to decriminalize drug use in America and treat it as a health concern then there is to continue how we have been responding for the last century. As more information is coming out about the social benefits of harm reduction, the less we as a nation are able to stand by the harsh punishments that we have been giving to those less fortunate and struggling in our communities. As someone who is pursuing a career in psychology with a focus on addiction studies this is a topic close to my heart. I have witnessed loved ones who have been directly affected by our drug policies and I have stood by and watched with great sorrow and frustration as people that were dealing with mental health issues, turned to drugs as a way of escaping and coping with the symptoms they where experiencing. PTSD, along with living in a culture that has forgot how to grieve has only perpetuated the use of drugs in our communities and this won’t go away anytime soon. If we can acknowledge an overwhelming majority of people who become addicts, as shown by all studies, were in large part abused as children either sexually or physically,then we realize the war on drugs is actually declared on those who have from birth repeatedly traumatized. In other words we are punishing people for having been abused and not taught how to incorporate or cope with their trauma to allow themselves to move forward in life. In addition the main reason that is the cause for most relapses is stress, instead of helping to alleviate stress we put addicts through some of the most stressful situations imaginable. Once we get over the belief that due to our moral superiority we are justified in punishing addicts along with surrendering our judgments we hold towards them. We need a more compassionate approach moving forward into the future and must design policies in such a way that is more beneficial to our communities. 

Works Cited

            Hart, Carl. High Price: A Neuroscientist’s Journey of Self-Discovery That Challenges Everything You Know About Drugs and Society. Harper Perennial, 2014.

            “The United States War on Drugs.” Https://Web.stanford.edu/Class/e297c/poverty_prejudice/Paradox/Htele.html.

Matė, Gabor. In the Realm of Hungry Ghost. North Atlantic Books , 2010.

Roleff, Tamara L. The War On Drugs (Opposing Viewpoints). Greenhaven Press, 2004.

Thanks for joining me!

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton