DRUG WAR LACKS EMPHASIS ON TREATMENT

Editor's Note: The Citizen continues its series on the impact of drugs in
the Lakes Region and American society in general with a look at the "war on
drugs".

LACONIA -- The war on drugs, say substance abuse experts, needs to be
recast as a health, rather than a criminal problem and resources must be
reallocated from law enforcement to treatment.

The federal government spends about $20 billion per year trying to keep
illegal drugs out of the U.S., with about two-thirds of it going to
interdiction, eradication and law enforcement.

"The one thing that is really critical is the best way to stop the
importation of illegal drugs into this country is by stopping the demand
and the only way you're going to do that is by treatment," said Jacqui
Abikoff, executive director of Horizons Counseling Centers in Gilford and
Plymouth.

"As long as there is a demand, there will be a supply, and all the money we
put into interdiction isn't going to make a dent -- and the further people
sink into addiction the less likely they are to have financial resources to
access treatment and if funding starts dwindling, like it looks like it
will, it will make it more difficult for people to get help," Abikoff said.

"We're going to pay either for their treatment or their medical care or
their incarceration."

On the treatment front, "we're starting to work with people who are in
recovery or breaking through that stigma and coming forth and not having to
hide because the more people see people who are in recovery who are
productive members of society, the more we're likely to break through that
stigma and help those who need it," said Abikoff. "The same stigma won't be
attached to that. It won't be any different than from going to your doctor
because you have the flu."

But the weakest link in helping people recover from substance abuse is the
lack of treatment programs for them.

"We don't have nearly the amount of access to services; we don't have the
services we need, not just in this area, but in the state as a whole,"
Abikoff said. "We have waiting lists six weeks long and, when people need
help, you need to strike while the iron is hot -- because six weeks later
they might have lost the motivation to deal with their disease."

The war on drugs is not working, said Abikoff, because "no matter how much
enforcement you're going to fund, you're not going to get ahead if the
demand is there."

Addiction, she continued, "is a brain disease. It's a very complicated
disease because it is physical, it is spiritual and it is emotional but the
bottom line is you can't take the physical out of it."

And, she added, it doesn't matter what the abused substance is.

By repealing prohibition, the U.S. has made "a social investment in keeping
our alcohol. It's so ingrained in our culture that we defend it; but in
terms of drugs, I've never quite understood which are the 'good' ones and
which are the 'bad' ones because, if you're addicted, you're going to
become addicted to whatever drug you use."

Nancy Dyer, a social worker and a licensed alcohol and drug educator and
counselor working with the Chemical, Health Advisory Task Force at Plymouth
State University, said substance abuse is a medical/psychological problem,
not a moral failing.

"People look at it as a moral issue and I'm afraid that that people in this
society are very judgmental about people who have addictions. They see the
addict as someone who is weak-willed or somehow inferior when in fact
anybody can become a drug or alcohol addict," said Dyer.

Substance abuse treatment does work, said Dyer, as does prevention
education. She would like to see more education for adults, whom she
believes have been overlooked, as well as for youths, particularly those
entering high school where peer pressure to experiment with substances is
greatest.

Dyer said she's "never been very impressed by the war on drugs."

"I don't believe war on anything is very good. We have to look at it as
more of a societal issue. Why are people looking to use drugs? What are
some of the underlying causes to have a person desire to use drugs? And
we're looking at issues of poverty, discrimination, joblessness. All those
issues, I think, are related to why people might want to escape their
current sense of being because they're just feeling pretty hopeless about
life."

"There has to be a real commitment to treatment, enforcement and education.
Not one of them works by themselves," said Dyer.

State Rep. David A. Welch, chair of the House Criminal Justice and Public
Safety Committee, concurs that treatment is a vital part of combating
substance abuse and addiction.

"The idea of treatment is certainly one that the committee would endorse
and I think treatment either within a secure facility or outside. If we had
the treatment centers available to us it would make an impact. It doesn't
make a whole lot of sense to incarcerate people who are merely casual
users, and I'm not sure that it's the casual users who are being
incarcerated but there does not appear to be adequate programs for drug
users," said Welch.