Have you ever met a child who wanted to grow up to become a drug
addict? Of course not, but it happens to more people than the
average person would want to admit because it might reveal their
own weaknesses.
Have you ever met a child who wanted to grow up to become a drug addict? Of course not, but it happens to more people than the average person would want to admit because it might reveal their own weaknesses.
Kollin Kosmicki’s article in Friday’s Free Lance, “Fall from grace – the allure of meth,” was very enlightening for people who know nothing about the world of drugs. Unfortunately, I know more than I should, yet if it wasn’t for my personal experience I would not have been able to help my own son fight his battle with crack.
During my hippie heyday in the 1960s, experimentation was the trend. Despite law officials’ claim that pot is a gateway drug, I don’t believe it.
The first drug I tried was given to me by a Wayne State University med student who knew how to make crystal meth, syringe included. Why would I do such a crazy thing? Because I was young and dumb – but very lucky, I quickly learned.
Somewhere between my teenage years and adulthood, my self-esteem began to dwindle and a demon began to take my place, convincing me I was insignificant and worthless. All the while I blamed my problems on my mother’s late pregnancy, preventing me from fulfilling my dream to be a nun. It was my problem, not my mother’s. How stupid can a person be?
Youth is indeed wasted on the young. Young people do not realize they can do more than one job, one career. But in my mind, if I could not enter the convent I was doomed to a world of chance because I didn’t think I could be good at anything else.
So I roamed around the country, hung out at all the happening spots from Haight-Ashbury to Greenwich Village and Detroit’s own Plum Street, trying to put my life in perspective: Where did I fit in society? Experimenting with LSD, crystal and heroin, I wasn’t hooked on any one drug because I was using them all. Pot was the least of my worries; I was more addicted to cigarettes than any other vice.
As easy as it was for me to take drugs, it was just as easy for me not to take them when a young friend of mine, Bambi, died at 15 from a heroin overdose.
When hard drugs first made the scene, there was no information, no guidance, no treatment facilities – only incarceration, which has proven to be unsuccessful.
As for Marijuana being a gateway to hard drugs, it’s true – but only in the sense that it provides contacts for the black market, proving marijuana prohibition is a deadly call. Dealers are always looking for new customers and are very willing to give new clients a free sample. Policy makers need common sense regarding drug laws because what we have now doesn’t work.
Legislators are slowly beginning to speak out against current drug policies. San Diego County decided in 1997 that instead of putting people behind bars for methamphetamine-related offenses, rehabiltation was the best solution to break the cycle of addiction. They formed the County of San Diego Methamphetamine Strike Force, which is proving to be extremely successful.
Instead of a traditional court hearing, participants are turned over to one of the county’s four drug courts that operate alongside the traditional Superior Court. Those who participate must plead guilty to their charges. In exchange, each person is evaluated for the type of treatment they may need for their addiction and the addict is paired up with a team of specialists who see them through the detox period and eventually with job training.
This program is a step in the right direction. Judge David W. Ryan of the North County Drug Court in San Diego had stated most importantly that people in the program are made to feel like they’re worth the investment.
The rehab program costs around $3,000 for a drug addict, while the cost to keep someone in jail for a year is more than $25,000.
America’s War on Drugs is becoming a world joke. Rio de Janeiro, where most of the drugs come, from is softening punishment on recreational drug users and will now treat them not as criminals but as people in need of medical and psychological help. Access to drug treatment is critical if we are going to save future generations.
We can talk about drug addiction until we’re blue in the face, but until this country is willing to stand up to its legislators, the system will remain status quo and prisons will continue to fill up with people who are really not criminals. But if they stay in jail long enough, they’ll learn the ropes.
