While different community leaders scramble for how to resolve our homeless addiction disorders, all the fuss is intriguing! I mean, really? Just love them and give them a place to stay, it really isn’t all that difficult to see, when looking through a harm-reduction lens. In war, reducing the number of casualties is a top priority, right? Our Remission News editor sent in a couple of inspiring reads recently, which blended and started following stream flowing. He also shared a quote: “Love All, Trust a Few, Do Wrong to None.” – William Shakespeare. Thanks for the gift, Bill, as it fits quite well with today’s journal news entry.
Our homeless “food-ladies” informed us, that law enforcement corralled a couple dozen drug dealers from our Lowell community streets earlier this week. This incited thoughts of how and when are folks going to understand that the war on drugs is a fruitless endeavor? Later, one of our tent-dwelling community members said the task force was being called “the cocaine crusaders.” A Globe correspondent, Nick Stoico (2022) communicated that this posse was cracking down on the “Cocaine Cowboys.” According to our Middlesex DA, corralling these Cowboys resulted in twenty-one arrests, some guns, a half dozen ounces worth of powder and pills, and a hundred thousand in cash money. Sounds good right? How many of our fed and local tax dollars do you think went into resourcing this posse’s three-year endeavor?
Now let’s draw back on our harm-reduction scene and look from a wide-angle lens. What do we see in the grand scheme of things? As part of this executive branch initiative, word on the street was they have mostly shut down the cocaine dealers and less so the opioid dealers. If true, this makes for more fentanyl consumption, and potentially, further escalation of opioid overdoses. Also, this disruption in the supply chain will now grant drug lords increased revenue for decreased product. A reduction in supply signals increased demand and dealing drugs becomes more lucrative and more attractive. Did Pablo’s lessons fall on deaf ears?
Let’s be clear though, a wise tribal Chief, when fixing clan problems, would say “if you’re going to do something, then do it right.” In this same vein, we at VSN agree whole-heartedly. Protocol includes Don Miguel Ruiz’s four agreements, especially this one of like-mindedness – always do your best! Our tax dollars write pay-checks for making laws and enforcing laws. Does anyone see this war on drugs has Vietnam written all over it?
Remember Pablo, plata o plomo, silver or lead? When we keep using lead, incarceration, and other punitive measures to curb drug use behavior it begins to fit with a well-known definition of insanity. Doc LaBranche has shared it often – insanity is doing the same thing over and over while expecting different results. Even our own Department of Justice has known for decades the war on drugs is fruitless. According to Brecher (1986) “Attempts to address the drug problem through laws and law enforcement have failed. Prevention of demand is more likely to be effective” (page 1, abstract). This research concluded that over the past 111 years (add now another 30 plus), drug use has not been significantly reduced. Furthermore, when you think about it, Nixon’s declaration of a war on drugs is much like a world view of your typical addiction disorder: continued engagement despite negative outcomes and an inability to stop or manage a dysfunctional self-defeating behavior. Has society become addicted to a war on drugs?
In economics it’s pretty simple, if you want to stop supply, simply stop demand, as noted above by our Department of Justice’s research. By the 1980s, Pablo controlled 80% of the cocaine traffic into our country. His clan moved more than seventy tons of cocaine per month. At his peak, Mr. Escobar was raking in well over four hundred million per week. His signature approach, not all that different from ours, was called “plata o plomo”, meaning silver or lead. Essentially, choose some gravy or have some bullets from the menu. Apparently, some 200 judges, dozens of journalists, three Colombian presidential candidates, an attorney general, a justice minister and more than 1,000 law enforcement officials refused a silver platter and chose from the other menu. With this history lesson in mind, one has to ask, did the recent posse’s crusade make our streets safer? Clients within our network, the ones actively addicted anyway, typically resort to crime only when other means are made unavailable. Note, this isn’t because they wish to be good boys and girls, or law-abiding citizens even. It’s more because jails are even more oppressive than being enslaved by an addiction. Outside, drugs help free users from their pain and trauma. Inside, no amount of drug use can remove the bars or open the doors to their cages.
If you’ve been able to follow along, you’re probably wondering, where is the resolve? How do we properly manage our tent-dwellers’ addiction disorders? Well, that’s what we do in our mentor training program, for a fee, of course. Just kidding, ha gotcha! It was already alluded to in the opening paragraph. Maybe watching this video clip will help clarify. You’re welcome to ask questions and share your point of view. In fact, please do, as all good research starts with some brainstorming, ask a cherished mentor, UMass Lowell professor, Bill Berkowitz.
References
Brecher, E.M. (1986) Drug laws and drug law enforcement – a review and evaluation based on 111 years of experience. Drugs and Society (1) p.1-27
FightMediocrity (2020) The best explanation of addiction I’ve ever heard – Dr. Gabor Mate YouTube ( https://youtu.be/ys6TCO_olOc )
Stoico, N. (2022) Investigation into so-called ‘Cocaine Cowboys’ group in Lowell results in 21 arrests. The Boston Globe.
Some good stuff here Doc. I am a believer in a harm reduction approach to drug addiction.