“This can’t be another war on drugs,” writes columnist anitachabria. 'It needs to be a war on addiction. A war not on the supply — and suppliers — of fentanyl, but on the demand for it.'
Adding more years to prison sentences through more enhancements, as Republicans are calling for, will do just what it did during the crack epidemic: fill prisons with the lowest levels of disposable dealers without impacting the larger drug trade.
That may have had some truth in the days of poppy and coca fields, when crops took time to grow and confiscated shipments were harder to replace. But “kilo chasing” doesn’t work with fentanyl, Humphreys said, because it is easy to make it anywhere, and so powerful that a little bit can be cut into huge profits.
That’s another thing we need to understand about this epidemic: Fentanyl is not a secret poison hidden in illegal drugs by unscrupulous dealers. Fentanyl is the drug an increasing number of users want precisely because it is stronger than heroin or meth.Legislators love to wave around sugar packets claiming a few grains of fentanyl is enough to kill. And for an inexperienced teenager who doesn’t have a tolerance, that might be true.
The underlying reason for the scarcity remains stigma: our collective, if not overtly stated, belief that addiction is a weakness rather than a chronic disease, and relapses — or replacements — are moral failures. Those who treat addiction know abstinence may be a goal but not a reality for many. Treatment involves a lifetime of work, and possibly medication, just as it does for diabetes, heart disease or depression.
It’s poor people with addictions, who live on the streets, defecate on the streets, inject on the streets, and possibly steal or commit crimes to support their habit that frighten and offend us and drag neighborhoods into chaos. Take away the need to pay for illegal drugs, and you decrease crime and homelessness.
That shift in focus requires us to see street users as worthy of help and suburban pill purchasers as drug users in need of intervention — both uncomfortable positions for some.
South Africa Latest News, South Africa Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Column: Only thing major about MLS is the fee to establish a teamRadio people say a team in our city can fill the void left by the Team That Used To Be Here bolting ... nothing we dig up can fill an NFL void
Read more »
Tim Steller's column: A warm, hopeful man departs a cynical, sinister eraFor Star subscribers: The upheavals of World War II, the 1960s and 1970s, and recent political conflict didn't dim the enthusiasm of columnist Tim Steller's dad. In this angry era, we should channel his attitude.
Read more »
Column: San Diego Wave retain young star Jaedyn Shaw as crunch time loomsAhead of Sunday's match in Kansas City, coach Casey Stoney declines to release teenage forward to U.S. under-20 team.
Read more »
Column: Time to feel euphoria with changing of sports seasons upon usWith three weeks left in 2022-23 school year and spring sports season, it's time to reflect back and look ahead to the future.
Read more »
Column: For Mother’s Day, a critic, his mother and a screenful of memoriesFor Mother's Day, Tribune film critic Michael Phillips sat down with his mother to talk about their shared love of movies.
Read more »
Column: A 2024 Biden-Trump election would be a contest of unpopularityA rematch between the president and his predecessor wouldn't simply be a rerun of 2020, but a referendum on both of their records — and a test of which one voters like less.
Read more »