Pubdate: Mon, 10 Dec 2007
Source: Herald Bulletin, The (Anderson, IN)
Copyright: 2007 The Herald Bulletin
Contact:  http://www.theheraldbulletin.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3877

DEFEATING DRUG PROBLEM TAKES COMMUNITY EFFORT

It was heartbreaking to read about Richie Heath in The Herald Bulletin
on Dec. 2. Richie, 17, popped five methadone pills, impatient for the
buzz that would let him escape reality for a while.

The escape became permanent, and Richie was another victim of
drugs.

Drugs are a scourge in Madison County, where the annual number of
overdose deaths doubled from 2001 to 2005, according to the Indiana
State Department of Health. Thirty-four people died from such
overdoses in the last year of the period. Deaths like Richie's are
unnecessary and preventable, but it takes all of us to bring the
epidemic under control.

As the U.S. government is slowly learning in its war on drugs, there
is and always will be an endless supply of the stuff. So the problem
has to be attacked at the demand level, where those who are searching
for a high and those who want to turn a quick buck operate.

Drugs have a twofold attraction: euphoria for the user and cash for
the seller. Drug trafficking works the same as any other business and
is subject to the laws of supply and demand. But it's a deadly
business, and made even more difficult for law-enforcement officers
with the rise of prescription drugs. They're legal and accountable but
no less deadly.

Incarceration is not the answer. According to a recent study, the U.S.
has locked up 500,000 low-level drug users in the past six years.

The problem persists, and those users are not afforded any treatment.
They are mixed in with "concentrated criminality." Studies have shown
that treatment works best to stem the tide of demand, but so far only
minimal government dollars have gone in that direction.

The first step in preventing stories like Richie's from unfolding is
education against drug abuse. That is up to all of us - from parents
and teachers to church and community leaders. Always be observant
about young people's behavior and, more importantly, changes in that
behavior. Know their friends and know where they go. Insert yourselves
into their lives so you'll know when a problem arises. If it does,
find them the help they need before they get locked away - or suffer
an even worse fate.

There are many factors that lead to drug abuse - poverty, boredom,
peer pressure - but we don't want to read more stories that end like
Richie's. It's not enough to tell young people there is a better way.
We have to show them.
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MAP posted-by: Derek