Public Health Casualties: How Drug Prohibition Increases Overdose and Disease
"The National Institutes of Health, National Institute on Drug Abuse, American Medical Association, National Academy of Sciences, and White House Office of National Drug Control Policy all endorse methadone treatment and have called for its expansion. MMT helps 90% of heroin addicts stop weekly or daily heroin use after just three months, and has been shown to reduce both drug-offenses and predatory crime among patients. With few exceptions, methadone is distributed only at specialized methadone centers. Doctors cannot prescribe it, leaving thousands of patients with little or no access to treatment. America treats fewer than 20% of the estimated 800,000 heroin-addicted people who could benefit from methadone. By contrast, in many other countries - including Great Britain, Australia, Switzerland and Germany - most heroin addicts are successfully treated with methadone and other pharmacological treatments in physicians' offices and local pharmacies." 1America’s current drug policy would rather see people dead than doing drugs. There are serious risks and harms from having hard drugs unregulated. Imagine drinking brandy and not knowing its proof rating or who made it. A person wouldn’t know the potency or if any other substance had been added. This was exactly the problem during alcohol prohibition. The alcohol would be mixed with harmful chemicals, and many died as a result of the unregulated alcohol market. This can be extrapolated to heroin, cocaine, marijuana, ecstasy, amphetamines, or any other illicit drug. The drug war increases fatal overdoses and other drug-related deaths. The DPA is concerned as well.
"Drug overdose deaths are an overlooked epidemic in the U.S. In the Orlando area, for example, heroin related deaths increased over 1000% between 1994 and 1995. In Portland Oregon, New York City, San Diego, San Francisco, and Seattle, young men aged 20 to 54 are more likely to die by drug overdose than by car accident. Between 1990 and 1996, drug related deaths grew from 5,628 to 9,310, a 65% increase. During the same period, cocaine and heroin-related emergency room visits nearly doubled to more than 210,000. Despite these alarming statistics, federal surveillance of drug use patterns does not include accurate monitoring of overdose death rates. Only 20 states have accurate information that dates back to 1990. There are no federal programs or funds directed to overdose prevention." 2The government often plays to the immorality of drugs to justify their illegality. The inherent destructiveness of drugs is what should compel society and the government alike to make the substances legal, regulated, discouraged, and safe. Many go to hospitals and point to crack babies to shame those who liberalize drug laws. However, many addicts and pregnant women avoid help, treatment, and health care because they fear arrest.
"David Condliffe, who was the director of drug policy for New York City in the late eighties, conducted a survey that found that 85 percent of poor, pregnant crack addicts looking for treatment were refused wherever they tried. Nationwide, treatment is available for only 10 percent of the 300,000 pregnant women who abuse illegal drugs." 31. Drug Policy Alliance “Public Health Casualties of the Drug War.” 2002. Drug Policy Alliance.
2. Drug Policy Alliance “Public Health Casualties of the Drug War.” 2002. Drug
Policy Alliance. <http:>
3. Shenk, Joshua Wolf. “Why you can hate drugs and still want to legalize them.” Washington Monthly. Oct. 1995. 23 March 2007. <http:>
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