By Maurice S. Fisher Sr.
Fisher, a native of Roanoke, is a mental health professional who lives in Fincastle.
As one who treats persons with addictive problems, I read with interest The Roanoke Times articles concerning the ethical and legal travails of Dr. Steven J. Collins. Collins is the physician who has been stripped of his medical license and who now is serving time for dispensing and distributing oxycodone for non-medical purposes along with being in possession of copious amounts of child pornography.
Notwithstanding that I have never met Collins, I do not find the news of his plight surprising as do many of the readers of this paper. He is yet another casualty in the so-called War on Drugs.”Collins is one of many who profited from the “bad acts” of drug abusers in our society. Collins apparently got greedy and linked his inappropriate sexual desires to his greed.
People are also reading…
Since the founding of this country, Virginia has been at the epicenter of many battles. The U.S. has been fighting drug abuse for almost a century. Four presidents have personally waged war on drugs. Unfortunately, it is a war that we are losing. Drug abusers continue to fill our courts, hospitals and prisons. The drug trade causes violent crime that ravages neighborhoods. Children of drug abusers are neglected, abused, and abandoned.
The U.S. has focused its efforts on the criminalization of drug use. The government has, to no avail, spent countless billions of dollars in efforts to eradicate the supply of drugs. Efforts of interdiction and law enforcement have not been met with decreases in the availability of drugs in America. Apart from being highly costly, drug law enforcement has been counterproductive. Although communities continue to fund them as preventive measures because they make the public feel good, programs such as DARE (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) have empirically been shown as failures.
Through its many iterations, the war on drugs has been fought from three different perspectives at different times in our history. These three prevailing views on addiction in America have derived from conflicted views of alcoholism.
The Moralist view considers the drug user to be sinful and morally defective. The drug itself is not the problem. The moralist’s drug policy entails punitive measures for users. Drug use is a crime. President Ronald Reagan’s “zero tolerance” policy on drug use is an excellent example of a moralist drug policy.
Second, the Temperance view considers the drug itself, as an addictive substance and the cause of addiction. The supply of drugs is a public hazard. According to the temperance view, drug policy should focus on drug smugglers and drug dealers as the root of drug addiction. U. S. drug policy has largely been influenced by the temperance view of addiction.
Third, the disease concept views addiction as being a treatable disease. Neither the drug user, nor the drug supplier is responsible for drug addiction. The disease concept calls for a drug policy that focuses on drug treatment and rehabilitation. President Bill Clinton embraced the disease concept and increased funding for treatment programs.
America is confused as to how to fight this war. But our lack of an approach historically fits with America’s narrative of inconsistency and confusion as to who and what we are fighting at any given time. But as one of my chemically addicted clients has opined relative to this drug war “one thing is for certain and two things are for sure, everyone makes money off the drug addict in this war.” And, he is correct. Beneficiaries of this war are organized crime members, drug dealers, private enterprise (e.g., drug-testing companies), and the criminal justice community.
For example, practically every year Virginia legislators tighten the legal penalties for DUI under the rubric of public safety, but the problem still exists. It exists because on the one hand the commonwealth sanctions and supports the use of the drug alcohol. And, on the other hand, the commonwealth penalizes individuals who do not use it as prescribed by the government. Alongside the commonwealth which sells this drug for profit, there are multiple other stakeholders who profit from intoxicated drivers.
For once, Virginia can take the lead in a war. We do not necessarily need to legalize drugs, but we need to decriminalize their use. America needs to shift spending from law enforcement and penalization to harm reductive prevention and treatment.