Pubdate: Mon, 17 Nov 2014
Source: Deseret News (Salt Lake City, UT)
Copyright: 2014 Deseret News Publishing Corp.
Contact:  http://www.deseretnews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/124
Author: Thomas Brown

SOLVING DRUG ADDICTION

Human beings are subject to addictions, both physical and 
psychological. Americans especially love their addictions. Some 
addictions are more socially acceptable than others. Some are more 
personally destructive than others and some more socially 
destructive. But without doubt every addiction is capable of being 
destructive if unchecked.

Perhaps the biggest addiction industry of all is the illegal drug 
enterprise. It is the most lucrative. The cost of drug addiction can 
be measured by lives lost, incarceration costs, rehab costs and 
families destroyed.

The so-called war on drugs has largely been a failure. Still, there 
are forces at work in Utah whose aim is to change the way in which we 
deal with drug addiction. One suggestion is to decriminalize or at 
least minimize the criminality. This may be a worthy goal, but we 
must be aware that for an addict to be rehabilitated they must want 
rehabilitation more than they want the fix. Whatever we do must be 
done with a coordinated effort on a number of fronts.

One such front must be to wrest control of the market from those who 
now control and promote drug trade for personal gain. To do so would 
reduce the attraction of the drugs. How that might be done may be 
worth considering.

Thomas Brown

Murray
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom