Pubdate: Sun, 03 Nov 2013 Source: Dayton Daily News (OH) Copyright: 2013 Dayton Daily News Contact: http://drugsense.org/url/7JXk4H3l Website: http://www.daytondailynews.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/120 Author: Frank Abernathy Page: A19 Note: Frank Abernathy is a retired biological researcher who used to work for the gastroenterology department at Children's Medical Center in Dayton. He is also an inventor, a writer and a musician. AN EASY SOLUTION TO OUR NATION'S COSTLY WAR ON DRUGS The government's attempts to curb drug addiction have been about as successful as picking off the top of a dandelion to stop its growth. To stop dandelions, everybody knows you have to get at the root of the problem. I'll use cocaine as an example. The root of the problem of cocaine use is not the users. Putting them into jail just causes jail overcrowding, among other things. Getting them treatment would be very helpful. However, it would only put pressure on drug pushers to recruit new users or to get rehabilitated users rehooked. Slash and burn techniques will not get at the root either. Put one cartel out of business and another one pops up to take its place. Stop traffic in one area and smugglers will find another way to get stuff in. No, the real root of the problem is simply that getting people hooked on drugs like cocaine is enormously profitable - it's a business. Take away the profit motive and - bingo - no more drug pushing, which would result in a dramatic drop in recruitment of new users. How would the government go about doing something like this? Consider this scenario: Trailers or other portable buildings are set up in strategic locations and/or pre-existing vacant buildings are refurbished and used. These buildings would serve as - gasp! - drug users' facilities. They would be supervised, preferably by former drug users, together with rotating doctors and nurses. They would provide the drug user with a safe, clean place to do one of Frank Abernathy two things: 1. Receive drug treatment - that is, receive help getting off drugs, including a decent meal, perhaps a shower, and counseling on how to get a job and start their life over again. However, this is their choice, not ours. 2. Use federally regulated drugs. The first use is self-explanatory. The second use obviously requires further explanation. What I mean is that the government would subsidize drug users. They would provide them with both drugs and paraphernalia required to use them. The cost to the drug user to use these facilities would be zero dollars. Now why on earth would the federal government want to do something like that? The answer is simple: to eradicate the profit motive for getting people hooked on drugs in the first place. If there is no profit to be made from drugs, profited-oriented people will quit manufacturing them and will quit pushing them. They will have to find themselves a real job, like most everybody else. Once the profit motive is eliminated, many drug users (hopefully) can be eventually weaned off the drugs. Where does the government get such drugs? At first, they can use confiscated drugs that have been checked out for safety. If need be, they could oversee the manufacturing of the drugs on an "as-needed" basis. Remember, the goal is not to legalize illicit drug use. It is to reduce it as much as possible. Anybody selling illicit drugs still goes to jail. Anybody caught using drugs outside one of these federal facilities is still subject to punishment. The rules for such drug use would be as follows: 1. All drug use would be monitored to avoid overdoses, infection, etc. 2. All drug use would be audited. No drugs would go outside the compound. 3. No intimidation of users by the operators of the facility. Offer them counseling and help, but no preaching, badgering or hassling them about using drugs. This would defeat the whole purpose of the facility - to get them off the streets as a consumer of private drugs. Remember, the primary goal is not to cure drug addicts. That is important, but it is still secondary. Getting these people off the street would bring almost immediate payback on start-up investments in the program. For example, drug-related street crimes and prostitution would be greatly reduced. Think of the savings in medical costs due to bullet wounds alone. Why beat up little old ladies for their purses or rob convenience stores when drug users can get drugs for free? Believe me, drug addicts will take the easiest path to maintain their drug use. They did away with their pride and dignity whenever they became addicted. And looking for an easy way out of life is probably what got them into taking drugs in the first place. Sorry to be so hardnosed, but these are simply the facts as I see them.