high-profile overdose deaths in Hollywood, including those of Michael Jackson (2009) and Anna Nicole Smith (2007).
Social Consequences
The idea that there are social consequences for indulging in recreational drug use has come under intense research and professional scrutiny in recent years. In the United States, the biggest social consequence risk for the nonaddict drug user is arrest and or coerced âtreatmentâ for possession of a controlled substance.
According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), âAmong young people in drug abuse treatment, marijuana accounts for the largest percentage of admissions: 61 percent of those under age 15 and 56 percent of those 15â19.â According to the U.S. government study from which NIDA gets this figure, the majority of these teens were not in treatment because of dependence or addiction. They were given a choice of treatment or juvenile detentionafter being caught in possession of marijuana. There was no medical diagnosis of dependence or addiction.
The National Institute on Drug Abuse doesnât mention this fact because, as an official representative of federal drug policy, it wants the reader to infer the admissions are due to dependence and addiction. Sadly, this is exactly the type of thing that causes teens not to trust antidrug pamphlets. Once again, we see research studies used not as education but as propaganda. While the intent may be honorable, the methods undermine credibility and perpetuate harmful exaggerations.
Because of my role as a doctor who treats patients with the medical condition of addiction, you might think I would approve of any method that proposes to decrease drug use. Proposing isnât the same as accomplishing, and falsely labeling people as drug addicts when they do not have the disease of addiction diminishes the credibility of the condition itself and makes a mockery of treatment.
A 2004 conference on special designer drugs and cocaine held in Bern, Switzerland, prominently featured extensive research by Peter Cohen, author of âThe Social and Health Consequences of Cocaine Use.â In his final analysis, and in his words, âFor all drug use and drug users, social exclusion and marginalization are the worst settings. The best harm and crime reduction money can buy is to lower marginalization and exclusion of drug users, even if this would mean that the drugs they (still) like to use have to be made available to them at acceptable costs. In my view, daily and regular use is far less of a danger to people than social exclusion.â
We must deal with what is real, and the reality is that Ipractice addiction medicine in the United States, where the stigma against addicts is widespread, punitive legal measures are still instituted against disease sufferers, and millions of people who could avoid addiction or be treated successfully receive no help beyond a good scolding, shame, a jail sentence, and marginally helpful support group meetings.
The Criminalization of a Disease
If you thought you had cancer, you would go to a cancer specialist for medical diagnosis. You may also attend a support group for people dealing with cancer, but you would certainly pursue effective medical treatment. It is the same with heart disease, diabetes, and asthma. These are all chronic medical conditions with strong emotional and environmental components. They are all also preventable and treatable. So is addiction.
The difference, however, between addiction and every other chronic disease in the United States is that addiction is criminalized to a large degree. In federal prisons in 2014, 52.1 percent (95,079 of 182,333 prisoners) were there for drug-related crimes. Another 265,000 prisoners are in state prisons on drug charges.
More than 1.6 million people are arrested, prosecuted, and imprisoned each year for a drug law violation. The vast majority of these crimes are nonviolent, yet the violence to society because of
Social Consequences
The idea that there are social consequences for indulging in recreational drug use has come under intense research and professional scrutiny in recent years. In the United States, the biggest social consequence risk for the nonaddict drug user is arrest and or coerced âtreatmentâ for possession of a controlled substance.
According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), âAmong young people in drug abuse treatment, marijuana accounts for the largest percentage of admissions: 61 percent of those under age 15 and 56 percent of those 15â19.â According to the U.S. government study from which NIDA gets this figure, the majority of these teens were not in treatment because of dependence or addiction. They were given a choice of treatment or juvenile detentionafter being caught in possession of marijuana. There was no medical diagnosis of dependence or addiction.
The National Institute on Drug Abuse doesnât mention this fact because, as an official representative of federal drug policy, it wants the reader to infer the admissions are due to dependence and addiction. Sadly, this is exactly the type of thing that causes teens not to trust antidrug pamphlets. Once again, we see research studies used not as education but as propaganda. While the intent may be honorable, the methods undermine credibility and perpetuate harmful exaggerations.
Because of my role as a doctor who treats patients with the medical condition of addiction, you might think I would approve of any method that proposes to decrease drug use. Proposing isnât the same as accomplishing, and falsely labeling people as drug addicts when they do not have the disease of addiction diminishes the credibility of the condition itself and makes a mockery of treatment.
A 2004 conference on special designer drugs and cocaine held in Bern, Switzerland, prominently featured extensive research by Peter Cohen, author of âThe Social and Health Consequences of Cocaine Use.â In his final analysis, and in his words, âFor all drug use and drug users, social exclusion and marginalization are the worst settings. The best harm and crime reduction money can buy is to lower marginalization and exclusion of drug users, even if this would mean that the drugs they (still) like to use have to be made available to them at acceptable costs. In my view, daily and regular use is far less of a danger to people than social exclusion.â
We must deal with what is real, and the reality is that Ipractice addiction medicine in the United States, where the stigma against addicts is widespread, punitive legal measures are still instituted against disease sufferers, and millions of people who could avoid addiction or be treated successfully receive no help beyond a good scolding, shame, a jail sentence, and marginally helpful support group meetings.
The Criminalization of a Disease
If you thought you had cancer, you would go to a cancer specialist for medical diagnosis. You may also attend a support group for people dealing with cancer, but you would certainly pursue effective medical treatment. It is the same with heart disease, diabetes, and asthma. These are all chronic medical conditions with strong emotional and environmental components. They are all also preventable and treatable. So is addiction.
The difference, however, between addiction and every other chronic disease in the United States is that addiction is criminalized to a large degree. In federal prisons in 2014, 52.1 percent (95,079 of 182,333 prisoners) were there for drug-related crimes. Another 265,000 prisoners are in state prisons on drug charges.
More than 1.6 million people are arrested, prosecuted, and imprisoned each year for a drug law violation. The vast majority of these crimes are nonviolent, yet the violence to society because of
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