Drug abuse is health problem for most William R. Kelly, Texas Perspectives: Trump administration offers wrong prescription for opioid crisis
Waco Tribune-HeraldAug 12, 2017
WRONG PRESCRIPTION FOR OPIOID CRISIS
President
It's obvious Trump has no understanding of addiction or abuse. His words are reminiscent of
So the message is don't start, but for those who do, the Trump administration has a second prong to their approach, which is the criminal justice system and punishment.
Attorney General
For the past 50 years, we have been waging a war on drugs that has relied nearly exclusively on supply control and tough punishment. It hasn't worked.
Despite the logic of limiting the availability of drugs and threatening and punishing those who are involved in the drug trade and using drugs, the report card for "tough on drug crime" is bleak. We have invested more than
Why has it failed?
The medical community declared nearly 70 years ago that drug and alcohol addiction and dependence are medical disorders. We can't punish diabetes or cancer away. Why do we think getting tough on addiction would work?
To complicate the landscape, approximately 40 percent of opioid-dependent individuals have depression, anxiety or bipolar disorder, and some have co-occurring psychiatric disorders. Post-traumatic stress disorder and personality disorders are also present, though less frequently. Punishment is not only ineffective, it often exacerbates these mental health disorders.
Punishment also does not deter those with substance-use disorders. Today, the vast majority of individuals who enter the
It's time to stop disregarding the scientific and clinical evidence. It's time to get realistic about how we should address the drug problem. The evidence is unequivocal - we cannot effectively control supply. There is simply too much money to be made. We should recalibrate drug policy by dramatically ramping up evidence-based strategies of demand reduction. The only way to reduce the incidence of substance-use disorders is effective treatment. Ideally, that should occur outside the confines of the justice system with community-based treatment. Those who end up in the justice system should be diverted to treatment, not simply locked up.
Drug abuse is a public-health problem. It is time we treat it that way.