LET'S GET REAL

Asheville Needs A New Approach To Drug Use

The Asheville City Council's recent tussle ("It's War," May 12 Xpress)
made me want to join the discussion about drugs, the war on drugs, the
cost to the taxpayers, and other options for our community. Drugs -
the illegal ones we fear and launch wars against - could become a
profitable and positive source of revenue for this city if we changed
our approach from "We have a drug problem" to "Many people use drugs
in our society, and we would rather create comprehensive, holistic (as
some Council members called it) ways to address how, when and where
people choose to do the drugs they do."

The war on drugs takes far too much money from the national budget;
our local budget would do much better if we took a different tack.
Let's take a stand in North Carolina to be forethoughtful: "Asheville
- - we talk about drugs realistically."

Let's sit down with our state representatives, local officials and
neighbors to decriminalize drugs where we can. Other cities are doing
it (see www.NORML.org). Shall we be next? And why not start with weed?

I'm going to be real honest with you: I've smoked weed (marijuana,
grass or whatever you call it) over the years when I've had the notion
to. More than likely you, yourself, smoke it or have smoked it too.
You may not find it easy to say so, but for my part, I am sick and
tired of pussyfooting around the subject.

I haven't had a sip of alcohol (beer, wine, spirits or whatever you
call it) in close to 10 years. And whether I'm better or worse off for
either of these decisions, the fact is, it's my choice - and it should
be for each of us.

An individual's possession of weed should be a non-issue. So what if I
were to grow a few plants, or enjoy the delightful fruits of a
neighbor's labor? I'll even advocate publicly for a buyer's club like
the ones in some big cities, so that those who could benefit medically
from quality-controlled, locally or regionally grown weed could access
it more readily. Damn, we should be able to light up at restaurants
and clubs, or in the park while enjoying the vistas of the surrounding
mountains.

Vice Mayor Mumpower's eye-opening night in public housing, watching
drug deals take place outside his window, must have been frightening.
But aren't we mostly talking about a different drug here? Wasn't it
crack that he saw dealt? A touchy subject indeed. I could easily
criticize it, or the people who choose to do it, but I'm no more
interested in that than I am in ingesting it myself.

I wonder, though, if Mr. Mumpower would share his observations about
the clientele he saw buying drugs. Isn't there a variety of races,
ages and sexes who buy drugs in town? Sure, there are "hard drugs 24
hours a day," as he put it. And I don't have any easy answers for
addressing crack use.

Maybe we could have a local college or university do a study that
would at least provide pharmaceutical-grade product to all
participants. Would people enroll if they knew they could come to a
study site and smoke crack all day long? Is it something that people
would rather do in the comfort of their own homes? Would it be any
different ethically to decriminalize crack use? Let's talk about it. I
like the idea of "public safety" being City Council's No. 1 charge.

During the 12 years I've lived and worked in Asheville, I've been
involved in HIV/AIDS/STD/hepatitis and alcohol/substance-abuse
prevention education. I am the coordinator of the only openly active
needle-exchange program in the state of North Carolina (there are at
least two other underground programs in other North Carolina cities).
And I would like to remind the current Asheville City Council that
previous administrations and the community in general have been
supportive of the effort to reduce yet another unnecessary cost to us
- - the cost of care for someone with any or all of the above-mentioned
diseases. So support your local needle-exchange program: Let's have no
new HIV/hepatitis B or C infections due to dirty, shared needles!

It's my hope that there'll be open dialogue with the new police chief
about how he and his staff can help reduce harm in the community
related to drug use. That could include being part of and supporting
decriminalization; community roundtables with "drug dealers," to
solicit their views; town meetings with judges and attorneys who spend
so much time and money adjudicating drug-related cases; looking at the
medical issues; and understanding the economics of survival in our
society (i.e., why people buy and sell drugs).

In my view, we'd do better to be a little "soft" on drugs and their
users. You can say what you will, but I don't believe in spending
hundreds of thousands of dollars to fight a losing battle.

Let's get real - and then get progressive and creative. We should
spend our money on after-school programs and treatment slots for
people who want to stop doing drugs and need help getting off of them.
That's my story, and I'm stickin' to it.

[Michael Harney coordinates North Carolina's only openly active
needle-exchange program.]