THE NEEDLE AND THE DAMAGE DONE

I'm an ordinary guy, not an expert but confused by the experts. I
don't understand what the heck is going on in the world of drugs and
all that is connected with it.

Like many others, I have had my vehicle broken into and searched for
small change and anything else of value. My real loss was about
three bucks worth of change but the cost to get my vehicle repaired
was just over $700 and I had to pay $500 of that.

What was the emotional cost? Upset and anger at being targeted by
some twit that thought they could score a few bucks by breaking into
my car. They didn't know that I, like most prudent people, don't
leave valuables in my car. Because, with all the stories I have
heard I am just a little paranoid.

My reaction was that I would kind of like to kick the individual that
did this in some place that really hurt.

The reality is that given the chance, I probably wouldn't.

Why did this wanton act of vandalism occur? Most likely it was some
addict who needed his or her next fix and they really didn't care if
they were caught.

All they wanted was a few bucks to satisfy their need for more drugs.
There are thousand, not hundreds, of people in this city that have
had similar experiences.

What is it with our drug programs? We are supposed to feel sympathy
with these individuals who have, for whatever reason, chosen to use
drugs to make their lives more palatable. Many are disadvantaged
individuals that have little in their lives of any value.

But, there are also many users that have had all the advantages of
stable home, education and the privilege of being part of mainstream
society. There appears to be many roads to addiction.

How to mitigate the problem has a wide variety of proponents favoring
widely divergent solutions. The law and order approach advocates
harsher penalties for all involved from importers, manufacturers,
dealers and users.

They are the advocates of all out war on drugs. Perhaps they should
take a look at the failure of the "War on Drugs" in the United
States. Cut off one channel and a dozen others channels spring up to
take the place of the closed channel.

There is a big profit to be made out of this miserable
trade. Another camp advocates the complete legalization and control
of the products. Alcohol and tobacco are legal to use and the cost of
those addictions is extremely high.

Between the extreme positions there are many solutions proposed.
While there is great merit in endeavoring to help addicts break the
habit and lead a better life, there is the problem of the addicts not
wanting to.

It is my understanding that addiction recovery can only begin when
the addict sincerely seeks a cure.

That leaves out the majority of addicts. Just look at the programs
designed to convince people to quit smoking. They have an impact,
but the success rate is lower than desired.

Whatever the solution, it is time that our society pursue
improvements. The cost of the drug trade is not only the ruined and
unproductive lives that it takes but also the billions of dollars in
the cost of fighting the battle.

More intervention, more policing, more addiction treatment is all
costly and the funding comes from the taxpayer. Perhaps it is time
we demanded some positive progress and value for our tax dollars from
our politicians.