{"id":1409,"date":"2019-09-20T18:50:48","date_gmt":"2019-09-20T08:50:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thejugular.org\/?p=1409"},"modified":"2019-09-20T18:50:48","modified_gmt":"2019-09-20T08:50:48","slug":"war-on-drugs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jugular.org.au\/index.php\/2019\/09\/20\/war-on-drugs\/","title":{"rendered":"War on Drugs"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n \t<\/i> Read Time:<\/span>5 Minute, 8 Second <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n

written by BRIAN FENG (edited by KATERINA THEOCHAROUS)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHalf a century after Nixon\u2019s war [on drugs] was declared, sadly, there has been no better time to run a drug cartel.\u201d<\/em> \u2013 Tom Wainwright, Narconomics<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tom Wainwright\u2019s outlook might be bleak, but it\u2019s true – the war on drugs is failing. Despite the hundreds of billions that the world\u2019s taxpayers have spent in this war, the estimated number of people using drugs globally climbed from 208 million to 275 million between 2006 and 2016. The number of people afflicted with drug disorders reached 35 million in 2017, and drug-related deaths reached over half a million.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\/<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

This failure is no surprise. The favoured policy of drug prohibition may seem logical, but all we are doing is driving the drug market underground, into the hands of cartels. This is equivalent to banning candy floss at an amusement park, only for another supplier to pop up on the neighbouring street. Except this supplier is shady, has guns, and there are no regulations controlling what\u2019s being put inside the candy floss. But regardless, the kids and couples will still flock to him. Our policymakers don\u2019t understand that prohibition does not equal control, but rather the handing over of the reins to a much more sinister force.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Circuit of Addiction<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

How does someone get addicted to drugs?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Drug usage can be divided into two progressive stages: the chosen usage (e.g. smoking pot out of curiosity) and subsequently, the compelled usage. It is the second stage which we call \u2018addiction\u2019, where reinforced physiological and psychological circuits drive our bodies to consume a substance even at the cost of our lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although physiological circuits are indubitably hard to break (for example, when overcoming withdrawal seizures), it is often the psychological circuits that cause people who have come \u2018clean\u2019 to relapse. These ingrained circuits tell us \u201c12 pm lunch break, time to light a cigarette.\u201d A drug user trying to come clean will experience these urges time and time again\u2026after a coffee, after a meal, before picking up the kids\u2026and every time they satisfy themselves, the circuit is reinforced.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The line between stages I and II is blurred and poorly understood, but one thing is for certain: the transition between the two is gradual. Your body (and mind) doesn\u2019t wake up one morning and decide \u201cI\u2019m addicted.\u201d Even if you overdosed on cocaine one night, you wouldn\u2019t wake up the next morning with any sort of craving for the powder. It takes time for a circuit to take root in you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In light of this, the social context of addiction becomes a very important factor. In America, a unique opioid epidemic has taken over the white middle-class population. But why would John, a 40-year-old salaryman, use fentanyl to the point of addiction?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because he\u2019s in pain. An unhappy marriage. An old scar. Working an office job he doesn\u2019t love. Some days, he doesn\u2019t feel like waking up in the morning\u2026 because he has nothing to look forward to other than falling asleep at night. Aren\u2019t we all scared we\u2019ll grow up to be like that?    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

From this perspective, it\u2019s clear that John\u2019s descent into drug addiction is driven by more than chemical hooks. Addiction, put simply, is a reflection of John\u2019s depression, and the pills a manifestation of his loneliness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Obviously, there exists plenty of people who have experienced similar situations to this hypothetical \u2018John\u2019 and are not addicted to drugs. But I do believe that this scenario provides us with an inkling of how drugs act as an outlet for suppressed emotions, much like exercise, music or cooking, albeit a more harmful one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is why current prohibition strategies haven\u2019t been effective in the war against drugs \u2013 they ignore the fact that the drug problem is an intrinsically human one. For the law to look at a person with a drug disorder, and say \u201cCharges of cocaine possession\u2026 How much time should he spend in jail?\u201d just doesn\u2019t make sense. A much better question would be:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHow can we help?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Decriminalisation: Taking the direction of least harm<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In summary, drug decriminalisation involves the removal of criminal penalties for:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00b7  \tDrug use\/possession<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00b7  \tPossession of equipment used to inject drugs (e.g. syringes)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00b7  \tLow-level drug sales<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s say you were caught holding cocaine deemed for \u2018personal use\u2019 in Portugal, where all illicit drugs were decriminalised in 2001. The drug would be confiscated, and you would be asked to turn up to the CDT (a drug counselling panel). No arrests. No courts. No jails.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Equally as important, Portugal increased its national programs for harm reduction, prevention, rehabilitation and social integration for people with drug dependencies\u2026 and the results are in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00b7  \tNo significant increase in wider drug usage<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00b7  \tReduction in the number of young people becoming dependent on illicit drugs<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00b7  \tFrom 1998-2011, the number of people in drug therapy increased by >60%<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00b7  \tThe number of people arrested for drug offences dropped from >14,000 per year in 2000 to ~5000 in 2009<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00b7  \tThe proportion of opiate-related deaths dropped from 95% in 1999 to 59% in 2008<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By making the link between drug dependency and a cry for help, Portugal, at the very least, has made ground in their own war on drugs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What now?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In April 2015, then Prime Minister Tony Abbott admitted publicly that we had an ice problem. By 2018, Australia\u2019s ice usage had increased by 17%, with fatal drug overdoses reaching a record high of 1, 704 in 2016.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first step to combat Australia\u2019s own drug crisis is the decriminalisation of all illicit drugs, along with larger investments into harm reduction and rehabilitation.   In light of the global drug crisis, with drug disorders and deaths spiralling out of control, we have to ask ourselves: Are we really fighting a war on drugs?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Or on people?\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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References:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/wdr.unodc.org\/wdr2019\/prelaunch\/WDR19_Booklet_2_DRUG_DEMAND.pdf<\/a><\/p>\n

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“Our policymakers don\u2019t understand that prohibition does not equal control, but rather the handing over of the reins to a much more sinister force.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1410,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[19],"class_list":["post-1409","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","tag-featured"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jugular.org.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1409","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jugular.org.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jugular.org.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jugular.org.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jugular.org.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1409"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/jugular.org.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1409\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jugular.org.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1410"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jugular.org.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1409"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jugular.org.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1409"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jugular.org.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1409"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}