Pubdate: Thu, 29 Sep 2005 Source: Daily Campus, The (UConn, CT Edu) Copyright: 2005 ThesDaily Campus Contact: http://www.dailycampus.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2778 Author: Emily Groff WAR ON DRUGS INADEQUATE So much focus has been directed at the War on Terror that America's War on Drugs has dropped out of the public eye. The fight to prevent drug use and abuse is led by a variety of agencies including the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) and the federal Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). These agencies focus primarily on marijuana, a decision many feel is misguided. Although marijuana is both the most readily available and most used drug in the United States, it is also one of the least dangerous. If used regularly, approximately 27 of 30 days a month, it can permanently damage nerve cells containing dopamine, which regulate feelings of motivation and reward. It can also be addicting and smoking it poses the same cancer risks as smoking cigarettes. However, when used in moderation, the long-term effects of marijuana are negligible. According to a report in The New York Times by Dr. Sally Satel, "Older teenagers who experiment with marijuana generally function as well as nonusers with respect to school and mental well-being." The federal government chooses to concentrate its efforts on marijuana because of the plant's dubious distinction as a "gateway drug." However, the link between marijuana and other drugs is not direct. This is clear because while most users of harder drugs like heroin and cocaine started out using marijuana, few users of marijuana graduate to hard drugs. Instead, according to researchers at the RAND Corporation, "Marijuana use precedes hard drug use simply because opportunities to use marijuana come earlier in life than opportunities to use hard drugs." Teenagers who go on to use hard drugs do not do so because of marijuana, they do so because they are predisposed to. According to Satel, while marijuana use before age 15 is a red flag for future drug abuse, so are "truancy, failing in school, fighting, stealing and drinking." In light of this evidence, it is clear that underlying social ills - not marijuana - are the cause of hard drug abuse. While other government agencies try to fix these, the DEA and its partners should focus their research not on marijuana, but instead on drugs with more damaging effects on society. In fact, in July the National Association of Counties begwwged the White House to "put the same kind of emphasis on methamphetamine abuse as they have in marijuana." State and local officials in the West Coast, the Southwest and the Midwest have been overwhelmed by crime, incarceration and child neglect related to the explosion of methamphetamine, or crystal meth, use in the United States. Primarily used in rural areas, methamphetamine has been called the new crack and is making its way eastward. Stronger than amphetamine, it is a stimulant that releases high levels of dopamine. Long-term use permanently damages the nerve cells that produce dopamine and eventually effects body movement much like Parkinson's disease. In addition, according to the National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA), crystal meth "can cause irreversible damage to blood vessels in the brain, producing strokes [and] can result in cardiovascular collapse and death." Although it continues to ravage the western United States, crystal meth is not yet a big threat to the Northeast. New England has other drugs to worry about. According to the Drug Policy Information Clearinghouse, a division of the ONDCP, "Heroin has surpassed cocaine as the greatest drug threat in Connecticut ... The drug's increasing popularity, especially among younger users, is primarily due to the increased availability of low cost, high purity heroin that can be snorted or smoked instead of injected." Though snorting heroin is perceived as safer than injecting it, it has the same effects. Any ingestion of heroin can result in sudden overdose, collapsed veins, heart infections and liver disease. In addition, it was one of the most-listed drugs in drug-related deaths in 2002. Both heroin and methamphetamine are dangerous, highly addictive drugs much worthier of the government's attentions than marijuana. It addition to focusing on more damaging drugs, the White House must expand its attention from preventing drug use to helping those already affected by addiction. Because drug abuse alters gene expression and brain circuitry, it changes the user's behavior and functioning, causing a chronic, complex brain disease. There is no single treatment for addiction. Instead, the most effective remedy involves tailoring behavioral therapy and medication use to the individual's needs based on who the person is and the drug or drugs the person uses. Treatment must also address other medical, social or legal needs of the patient. Recovery is often a long process because addiction is a chronic illness and relapses are common. Comprehensive residential and out-patient programs must be readily available and affordable and include strategies to prevent patients from leaving therapy prematurely. Drug abuse costs taxpayers billions of dollars in lost productivity and medical costs, not to mention the price of incarceration. It also affects children and families of drug users, spreads infectious disease and leads to crime and homelessness. Comparatively, the cost of addiction treatment is nothing. According to NIDA, "It costs approximately $3,600 per month to leave a drug abuser untreated in the community, and incarceration costs approximately $3,300 per month. In contrast, methadone maintenance therapy costs about $290 per month." Methadone maintenance therapy, which treats heroin addiction, is one of the most comprehensive and expensive programs, involving long-term residential treatment and medication. Clearly, addiction treatment is a good deal. The drug prevention efforts of agencies like the ONDCP would be cost-effective too, if only they focused on the right drugs. Moderate recreational use of marijuana is not harmful. It is certainly safer than using either alcohol or smoking cigarettes. The more serious drug problems the United States faces are methamphetamine, heroin and cocaine. The federal government must focus on fighting these drugs to get ahead in the war on drugs or the battle is just a waste of time and money. - --- MAP posted-by: Elizabeth Wehrman