Drug Addiction: The Funeral of Sanity

Christian Dellavella
English 138: Rcl II
Section 002
April 12, 2018
 Abstract

The War on Drugs has persisted far too long for the incredibly lackluster results that it has
produced. While the government attempts to arrest their way out of the problem, hundreds of
thousands suffer every passing year. Before the issue continues to spiral out of control, we must
organize a multi-step solution based on empirically-sound research and evidence. Through
reforms in the educational, prison, and legal systems, we can deter drug use and thus decrease
the number of drug overdoses in this country. First, we must implement a new federal program
within schools across the nation. Next, we will decriminalize various drug related crimes and
make better use of rehabilitation centers. Last, we should reform marijuana legislation and drug
education within schools. Drug addiction continues to claim the lives of more and more people
each year, and if Congress does not act soon, it may completely overwhelm our society. The time
to act is now.
The Unfortunate Truth
He regains consciousness just as a car flashes by. Looking down at the dirt he calls his
bed, he spots the needle, now empty, lying beside him. Other than the needle, a weathered
blanket and the clothes on his back are the only other things he can call his own. His frail body,
covered in microscopic holes, shivers as a light breeze passes through the underpass. As people
walk by and pity the man, his dreadfully bloodshot eyes stare back blankly. Over the years, his
mind has become numb, completely undisturbed by the happenings of the world around him. The
only thought running through his brain is when, where, and how he will acquire more heroin to
escape his tragic reality. This is the heartbreaking life of a drug addict, but it is not the life that
every drug addict lives. In the upper-class region of that same town, a middle-aged woman
quickly rummages through the medicine cabinet, searching for more painkillers. Just weeks ago,
the lighthearted receptionist was on her way to the office when she slipped on ice and damaged
her spine. After the doctor overprescribed her OxyContin, the drugs quickly became the only
thing in her life that mattered. Within a few days, she was fired from her job after failing to show
or call for an entire week. Her husband filed for a divorce after she was found passed out in the
bathtub, surrounded by pills as her 8-month-old baby cried for hours. After she robbed her
parents for drug money, they completely removed her from their life. None of that mattered to
her. All that mattered was the incredible release from this reality.
America’s current drug crisis has no bias. It does not discriminate against any race,
religion, economic class, or political view. If left untreated, it infects and destroys everything it
touches. An individual’s sanity is quickly decimated once the addiction takes control of their life.
In 2016, drugs claimed the lives of over 64,000 Americans.1 Among every possible cause of
death for Americans under the age of 50, none kill as many as drugs do.2 Regardless of the
country’s political differences, most can agree that the United States has a clear and highly
alarming problem. It is not one that will be solved easily, overnight, or through a single solution.
It is not one that can ever be completely eradicated, nor is it one that will spare lives as it fades
away. However, if a proper multi-step plan is put into place through various laws and policies,
we can begin to give hope to those who have lost it. Congress must act by instituting a new
educational program between schools and prisons, making more effective use of rehabilitation
centers by decreasing sentencing time for various drug-related crimes, and federally legalizing
marijuana and informing students about a diverse range of drugs in schools. Through these
actions we can hinder the destruction of our society from these parasites.
 Fig. 1. (CDC WONDER) Total U.S Drug Deaths.
Educational Reform
The first step we must take as a nation is to institute Prison to Pupil, a new federal
program that will match prison inmates with middle schools and high schools in areas with high
rates of drug use. There will be no shortage of inmates for the program as federal prisons house
over 100,000 individuals just for drug offenses. State prisons house at least 200,000 more, as
197,200 individuals are in state prisons after being convicted of a drug offense as their most
serious crime.3 Thus, there are likely hundreds of thousands of more inmates that were convicted
of a drug crime and a more serious offense. As the program expands, individuals in drug
rehabilitation centers could also take part. Drug and alcohol rehab centers in America saw 2.6
million people back in 2014, meaning the program could expand exponentially.4 The inmates
will be hand selected by counselors and prison guards based on their personality and behavior.
The goal is for the convicts to talk to the kids and teenagers while they are still young and have
hopefully not been introduced to drugs yet. Even if they have been, the individual will be able to
show them the destructive path that drugs can lead them down. The program will be most
effective when the individual speaking has a personal connection with the students. This means
that prisons will try to match the prisoners with schools they may have attended or schools in
areas that they grew up in. Traditionally, areas with high crime and poverty rates have had the
most struggles with drug abuse. For the most part, these tend to be urban areas within populated
cities. Chicago and New York, two of the largest cities in the country, have the highest heroin-
related hospital admissions in the country.5 San Francisco has the highest number of heroin
addicts and heroin-related crime of any city in the nation. We saw this same trend just three
decades ago when the crack-cocaine epidemic struck the United States. Back then, America
handled the situation unbelievably poorly, declaring war against an opponent that cannot be
defeated by simply arresting everyone who touches it. Today, we must act differently. However,
the epidemic has been spreading to the suburbs in recent years, something not seen in the 1980’s.
Data from 2013 shows that Missoula, Montana, a small town of less than 70,000, had the highest
rate of illicit drug use with 13.8 percent usage per household. That means that the drug crisis is
now affecting Caucasians at much higher rates, which is why many people believe that the
government is finally taking action on the issue. It was not until October of 2017 that President
Trump declared the opioid epidemic a public health emergency. Almost 90% of teens who use
heroin today are white.6 Many may point out failed programs similar to Prison to Pupil such as
D.A.R.E. Their criticism is understood, but this program will be significantly different. First of
all, it will not be police officers coming to the schools. It will be actual prison inmates who have
directly been affected by drugs. No one will be more brutally honest than these prisoners. They
will be able to share personal stories of how drugs affected them on a very deep level. The
prisoners will typically be local average citizens rather than the occasionally threatening police
officers, making them much more approachable for students. Instead of being told what drugs
can do, the students will be able to see the consequences firsthand. So why would the convicts
have any interest in taking part in the program? First, it allows them to get out of their prison and
experience the real world again for short periods of time. They can speak to normal people and
give young adults key advice that they likely did not receive growing up. In exchange for their
service, the inmates would receive a reduction in their sentencing time in prison with more time
in rehab.

Fig. 2. (Rocky Mountain Poison and Drug Center). Prescription Drug Abuse.

Prison Reform
A sizeable reduction in prison time in exchange for rehab time will benefit the prisoners
in a number of ways. First of all, prisons in this country are much more effective at creating
problems than solving them. A research study analyzing over 400,000 prisoners in 30 states
found that over 2/3 of the prisoners were rearrested within just three years of getting out of
prison. Nearly 57% of those who were rearrested were arrested before a year passed following
their release.7 The study also found that about 77% of drug offenders were arrested again for
drug offenses within a few years. Unfortunately, this has a lot to do with the fact that felons have
a very small chance of getting hired after their release from prison because employers almost
always ask if the person filling out an application has ever been convicted of a crime. If the
answer is yes, the employer will typically disregard the rest of the application, moving on to the
next potential employee. If the inmates choose to participate in the Prison to Pupil program and
they were only convicted of their first misdemeanor, a deal will be arranged in which their record
is wiped clean so that they can make positive contributions to themselves, their family, and
society as a whole. Rehabs are also proven to be much more effective at treating drug addiction
than prison. The National Treatment Improvement Evaluation study, which was mandated by
Congress in the 1990’s, found that after completing treatment, “the percentage of offenders
arrested for drug charges went down by 51%, overall arrests declined by 64%, and 70-90% saw
reductions in criminal behavior” (“Rehab or Prison?”).8 The study also found that after a year of
treatment, the individual’s use of the drug that lead them into treatment dramatically dropped
from 73% to 38%. Do not forget that this data comes from the 1990’s. Since then, the science of
how different drugs affect the brain has been researched more thoroughly, allowing counselors to
more effectively guide the clients through treatment. This means that we can likely drop that
percentage even lower. Second, treating a patient in a government-funded rehab is much less
expensive than keeping that same person in prison. In California, it costs over $70,000 to
incarcerate one prisoner for one year. Treatment in a rehab may only cost $2,000-$7,000, and
rarely does it exceed $30,000 for one individual in a given year. Treatment, however, does not
only pertain to rehab. Marijuana may also play a role in the treatment process.

Legal Reform
Marijuana will play a significant role in decreasing the number of overdoses across the
nation. This part of the plan involves two steps, with both playing off of each other in a
significant way. First, the country must federally legalize both the medicinal and recreational use
of the drug. Second, through the Prison to Pupil program, students must be taught that there is a
serious difference between marijuana and other harder drugs, such as opioids. Before you roll
your eyes at yet another college student’s attempt to regulate marijuana laws, carefully consider
the evidence. Many believe marijuana to be a gateway drug, meaning that the use of marijuana
leads individuals to harder, more life-threatening drugs. This finding is fairly consistent, with the
National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) saying that there is an “increased vulnerability for
addiction to other substances of misuse later in life that most epidemiological studies have
reported for people who begin marijuana use early in life” (“Is marijuana a gateway drug?”).9
The legalization and education of marijuana will help to eradicate this connection. One of the
main reasons why this connection exists is because marijuana is illegal. That may sound
backwards but I have witnessed it firsthand. At a young age, kids are told to stay away from
marijuana because it is an illegal drug. Labeling it as an illegal, harmful drug puts marijuana in
the same category as potentially fatal drugs, such as cocaine, heroin, and other opioids in a kid’s
mind. However, as children age, they begin to see how commonly used marijuana is. A study
conducted by NIDA and the University of Michigan in 2014 found that nearly 45% of high
school seniors report using marijuana recreationally.10 This means that it is highly likely that
most teens will know at least a few individuals who use the drug. This of course, leads to
pressure from their peers to use the drug. Many see that the drug has never killed a single person
and how it is used in medicine to combat a variety of diseases. Once they see that, the chances of
them trying the drug increase dramatically. These are the same kids who were told that marijuana
was a dangerous and illegal drug, just like painkillers and methamphetamines. The point here is
that treating marijuana differently than other drugs will effectively deter individuals from using
potentially harmful drugs. Keeping marijuana listed as a schedule one drug is ironically harming
the country. Listing marijuana as a schedule one drug also make it difficult for researchers to test
the possible positive effects of the drug, such as being a possible treatment for other drug and
alcohol addictions. The limited amount of evidence we have support claims that marijuana can
be used to reduce pain and treat symptoms of mental health conditions such as PTSD.11 This
means that medical marijuana could be used in place of other potentially harmful drugs such as
painkillers. In 2010, states that legalized medical marijuana had almost 2,000 fewer opiate-
related overdose deaths.12 If made federally legal, medical marijuana can be used an effective
tool in the fight against addiction. Additionally, students would learn the considerable
differences between marijuana and other drugs.

Fig. 3. (Drugabuse.gov) Drugs at Home.

Conclusion
Just like any other plan, this one does not come without flaws. Programs like Prison to
Pupil have failed before, rehabilitation centers do not always work, and legalizing marijuana may
very well only promote drug use. These are all sound objections. However, these conclusions are
where the evidence leads us to. If we want any serious progress to be made on this deadly
disease of the mind, we must follow where the research leads us to and commit to a well-
structured plan. For members of Congress, the time to act is now. Each and every day we do not
act on this issue we lose more victims to the vicious demons that we call drugs. America has
been in a position similar to this before. When we first declared war on drugs, we failed
miserably. Since then, the problem has only gotten worse. If we continue to try to arrest our way
out of the issue, we will only let the drugs win this deadly war. Drug addiction is among the
nastiest and most brutal diseases to ever infect our country. Join the fight to bring an end to the
problem today.
Endnotes:
1
National Institute on Drug Abuse. “Overdose Death Rates.” NIDA, 15 Sept. 2017,
www.drugabuse.gov/related-topics/trends-statistics/overdose-death-rates.
2
Katz, Josh. “Drug Deaths in America Are Rising Faster Than Ever.” The New York Times, The
New York Times, 5 June 2017, www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/06/05/upshot/opioid-
epidemic-drug-overdose-deaths-are-rising-faster-than-ever.html.
3
Carson, E. Ann. “Prisons and Drugs.” Drug War Facts, Jan. 2018,
www.drugwarfacts.org/chapter/drug_prison.
4
National Institute on Drug Abuse. “Treatment Approaches for Drug Addiction.” NIDA, Jan.
2018, www.drugabuse.gov/publications/drugfacts/treatment-approaches-drug-addiction.
5
“Low Income Housing and Social Issues Blog.” What U.S. Cities Have The Worst Drug
Problems?, 6 May 2013, blog.lowincome.org/2013/05/what-us-cities-have-worst-drug-
problems.html#.WsWWt0xFxeU.
6
“Drug Use and Addiction in the Suburbs.” Lock the Cabinet, 10 Aug. 2012,
www.lockthecabinet.com/news/drug-use-addiction-suburbs/.
7
“Recidivism.” National Institute of Justice, 17 June 2014,
www.nij.gov/topics/corrections/recidivism/Pages/welcome.aspx.
8
Mitchell, Kristin. “Rehab or Prison?” Beyond the Orange Wall, 2 May 2010,
beyondorange.wordpress.com/2010/05/02/rehab-or-prison/.
9
National Institute on Drug Abuse. “Is Marijuana a Gateway Drug?” NIDA, Feb. 2018,
www.drugabuse.gov/publications/research-reports/marijuana/marijuana-gateway-drug.
10
Scanlon, Kate. “What Percentage of Teens Use Marijuana? The Answer Might Surprise You.”
The Daily Signal, The Daily Signal, 28 Dec. 2014,
www.dailysignal.com/2014/12/16/percentage-teens-use-marijuana-answer-might-surprise/.
11
Ferro, Shaunacy. “Why It's So Hard For Scientists To Study Medical Marijuana.” Popular
Science, 18 Apr. 2013, www.popsci.com/science/article/2013-04/why-its-so-hard-scientists-
study-pot#page-2.
“Legalizing Marijuana Decreases Fatal Opiate Overdoses, Study Shows.” DrugAbuse.com, 3
12

Oct. 2017, drugabuse.com/legalizing-marijuana-decreases-fatal-opiate-overdoses/.