War on Drugs over?

[planted]

New drug control strategy signals policy shift

By SAM HANANEL (AP) – 1 day ago

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama on Tuesday announced a revised approach to "confronting the complex challenge of drug use and its consequences," putting more resources into drug prevention and treatment.

The new drug control strategy boosts community-based anti-drug programs, encourages health care providers to screen for drug problems before addiction sets in and expands treatment beyond specialty centers to mainstream health care facilities.

"By boosting community-based prevention, expanding treatment, strengthening law enforcement and working collaboratively with our global partners, we will reduce drug use and the great damage it causes in our communities," Obama said. "I am confident that when we take the steps outlined in this strategy, we will make our country stronger and our people healthier and safer."

The plan — the first drug plan unveiled by the Obama White House — calls for reducing the rate of youth drug use by 15 percent over the next five years and for similar reductions in chronic drug use, drug abuse deaths and drugged driving.

In an interview Monday, Gil Kerlikowske, the White House drug czar, said, "It changes the whole discussion about ending the war on drugs and recognizes that we have a responsibility to reduce our own drug use in this country."

Kerlikowske criticized past drug strategies for measuring success by counting the number of children and teens who have not tried marijuana. At the same time, he said, the number of deaths from illegal and prescription drug overdoses was rising.

"Us facing that issue and dealing with it head on is important," Kerlikowske said.

The new drug plan encourages health care professionals to ask patients questions about drug use even during routine treatment so that early intervention is possible. It also helps more states set up electronic databases to identify doctors who are overprescribing addictive pain killers.

"Putting treatment into the primary health care discussion is critical," Kerlikowske said.

The policy shift comes in the wake of several other drug policy reforms since Obama took office. Obama signed a measure repealing a two-decade old ban on the use of federal money for needle-exchange programs to reduce the spread of HIV. His administration also said it won't target medical marijuana patients or caregivers as long as they comply with state laws and aren't fronts for drug traffickers.

Earlier this year, Obama called on Congress to eliminate the disparity in sentencing that punishes crack crimes more heavily than those involving powder cocaine.

Some drug reform advocates like the direction Obama is heading, but question whether the administration's focus on treatment and prevention programs is more rhetoric than reality at this point. They point to the national drug control budget proposal released earlier this year, for example, which continues to spend about twice as much money on enforcement as it does on programs to reduce demand.

"The improved rhetoric is not matched by any fundamental shift in the budget or the broader thrust of the drug policy," said Ethan Nadelmann, executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance, which favors drug policy reform.

Nadelmann praised some of Obama's changes, but said he is disappointed with the continued focus on arresting, prosecuting and incarcerating large numbers of people.

Kerlikowske rejected that as "inside the Beltway discussion," and said there are many programs that combine interdiction and prevention.

The drug control office's budget request does include a 13 percent increase in spending on alcohol and drug prevention programs, along with a 3.7 percent increase for addiction treatment.

[Walter]

Good move going towards treatment. Once we realise this is more of a medical issue than strictly a legal issue (especially in the case of prescription drug addicts), then we will be able to free up our justice system for violent criminals. If the users/addicts are violent or reckless while doing the drugs, they should be incarcerated just like everyone else - not for just carrying a dime bag of pot in their pocket, etc.

[planted]

Good move going towards treatment. Once we realise this is more of a medical issue than strictly a legal issue (especially in the case of prescription drug addicts), then we will be able to free up our justice system for violent criminals. If the users/addicts are violent or reckless while doing the drugs, they should be incarcerated just like everyone else - not for just carrying a dime bag of pot in their pocket, etc.

While I agree with your sentiment, my angle is a bit different. Question: Why, under this administration, is the United States guarding the poppy fields in Afghanistan??? Why not burn them to the ground since we apparently now own them? Are we, under the Obama Administration, going to be in the heroin business?

[Poindexter]

While I agree with your sentiment, my angle is a bit different. Question: Why, under this administration, is the United States guarding the poppy fields in Afghanistan??? Why not burn them to the ground since we apparently now own them? Are we, under the Obama Administration, going to be in the heroin business?

I wasn`t aware the U.S. was guarding poppy fields. The last I heard was Afghanistan was still huge and lawless.

They can`t even catch The Taliban nor Osama.

Why isn`t the oil spigot opened up in Iraq, don`t we own that as well?

The war on drugs is a failure. Its time for another direction.

[planted]

I wasn`t aware the U.S. was guarding poppy fields. The last I heard was Afghanistan was still huge and lawless.

They can`t even catch The Taliban nor Osama.

Why isn`t the oil spigot opened up in Iraq, don`t we own that as well?

The war on drugs is a failure. Its time for another direction.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/afghanistan/2010-05-09-opium-afghanistan_N.htm

[Poindexter]

http://www.usatoday....ghanistan_N.htm

I`d say its a far fetch to assume seizing and irradication equals guarding and then morphs into peddling.

But I guess you can read what ever you want to into it.

[planted]

But I guess you can read what ever you want to into it.

Yep. You sure can.

[ally]

War on drugs ! I don't think there ever really was one. All that happened was a shuffling of the deck and different faces in control. There is and has been a war over drugs . That's the one about turf and it's happening in our very own neighbourhoods everyday !

just my two cents worth of garbble

[DRUNK08]

The war on drugs..........has been a complete (possibly intentional) failure. I won't get into the conspiracy theory or paranoid stuff, but it's been a failure.

And I don't know what the solution is.

First off, marijuana should be decriminalized. No one should go to prison for marijuana. I don't use it personally, and I am not a cheerleader for it, I don't believe the way it is dealt with is proper.

As far as other drugs go, they must remain illegal or at least restricted (as in you can't just walk into the store and purchase them), but there needs to be a new strategy to deal with them. We need to focus on prevention, rehabilitation, and also we need to come up with better mental health treatment and understanding. At the same time, we need to keep them illegal or restricted, but we also need to eliminate the money element. If the opportunities to make big bucks are gone, then that solves half the problem.

I am a believer that most drug addicts are self medicating, and we need to understand why, and approach it from that angle.

Not everyone becomes a drug addict. Some people like to use drugs for pleasure, and can handle that sort of use, and it never becomes a problem for them.

I think drugs like LSD, MDMA, Mescaline, Mushrooms etc should be available for psychiatric treatment and or controlled growth experiences. Meaning, you could access these drugs legally, and under the guidance of a qualified mental health professional.

I think that cocaine should remain illegal, but there needs to be an attempt to understand how this drug works, and why people become addicted to it, and there needs to be legal substitutions for it. For instance, I believe that a lot of stimulant addicts are undiagnosed with things like ADHD, and therefore could benefit from a prescribed stimulant.

As far as pain killers and opiates go, these need to remain illegal as well, but we need to have more options for these addicts. Meaning, government subsidized opiate distribution. Most addicts can get there daily dose of heroin we'll say, and then can lead a functioning life. If an addict can get his maintainence dose, he can save the time and effort it takes to secure the drug, and he can go to work and function.

As far as meth goes, I believe these are undiagnosed and untreated ADHD people. They need a prescribed stimulant.

We also need to be doing research on drugs, how they work in the human body, why people need them etc. We need to develop more drugs that mimic the effects of the illegal drugs, but yet are safe. The science and technological development opportunities in this field are endless, but we have been restricted from doing this research.

But most importantly, we need to evolve as people. Our society is very sick, there have to be changes. We need to prevent people from wanting to do drugs in the first place, and the current efforts aren't good enough.

It's a very complicated subject with no guaranteed solutions. But we are destroying people's lives for these substances. Sending them to prison and treating this with punishment instead of treating the real issues.

However, I do not know that society is ready for any of the recommendations or ideas I wrote about. I think there are too many uneducated idiots out there who would be totally irresponsible, and wouldn't likely to be able to handle a looser drug policy.

We really need to improve mental health services. I think we need to produce more psychologists and therapists etc, and require that everyone have someone to talk to and help them, starting at a very young age.

People need personal guidance and support. We need to build strong people. Not all parents are capable of providing the support their children need. Nor are the schools capable. And people get lost in the shuffle, and develop all sorts of issues, and over time, they get damaged, and then they end up not living up to their potential. Not all of these people turn to drugs, but a lot of them do.

[Lake of Shadows]

DRUNK, I get scared when I find myself agreeing with you, but I do agree with some of what you've said, although not all of it.

The 'war on drugs' certainly needs a different strategy than much of what has been done up to now.

If there was an easy answer, it would've been discovered by now.