Courts Give Addicts a Chance to Straighten Out

[groovedaddy]

SEATTLE — It was not your usual courtroom scene. For one thing, the judge choked up as he described one woman’s struggle with opiate addiction after her arrest for forging prescriptions.

Over the last three years, she had repeatedly missed court-ordered therapy and hearings, and the judge, J. Wesley Saint Clair of the Drug Diversion Court, at first meted out mild punishments, like community service. But last winter, pushed past his forgiving limit, he jailed her briefly twice. The threat of more jail did the trick.

Now she was graduating — along with 23 other addicts who entered drug court instead of prison. Prosecutors and public defenders applauded when she was handed her certificate; a policewoman hugged her, and a child shouted triumphantly, “Yeah, Mamma!”

In Seattle, as in drug courts across the country, the stern face of criminal justice is being redrawn, and emotions are often on the surface. Experts say drug courts have been the country’s fastest-spreading innovation in criminal justice, giving arrested addicts a chance to avoid prison by agreeing to stringent oversight and addiction treatment. Recent studies show drug courts are one of the few initiatives that reduce recidivism — on average by 8 percent to 10 percent nationally and as high as 26 percent in New York State — and save taxpayer money.

Since Judge Saint Clair took over the King County drug court here in 2005, the annual number of graduates — drug and alcohol free for at least six months — has more than doubled. His court has been cited by outside experts as one of the country’s best, yet a state budget crisis is forcing a shrinkage in participants.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/15/us/15drugs.html?_r=1&th&emc=th&oref=slogin

[Webster Green]

1. Legalize it!

If it feels good, do it! :smoke:

[bulldogge]

4. you see

though that mantra seems nice and easy it is not that easy. Say they legalize straight across the board that does not erase the fact that there are going to be addicts. Look at alcohol and tobacco for example, or pain pills. Having a bit of a knowledge in neurochemistry opens the subject up to you a bit more. If it "feels good" is not an argument for legalization. What do you do about folks who are willing to substitute responsibility's to family and loved ones in order to "feel good"? Individuals who neglect responsibility to family, work, and community much the same way that other addicts do? I'm sure you were hinting at weed but that is not the only drug out there that is illegal and the woman in the above mentioned article was not smoking pot. It is not such a black and white argument.

[RedCappedBandit]

7. There are addicts anyway

So what function does punishing them for using serve?

[bulldogge]

11. I think

you may be misinterpreting me. I don't think people should be incarcerated/punished for drug use, quite the opposite. I am simply stating that when trying to change the status quo on drug use/abuse/addiction you will not be singing to the choir, you will be attempting to change the minds of folks who are entrenched in their views and like things the way that they are. So my point is that it is not simply a black and white issue. Some people can use responsibly , some cannot. I work for an Alcohol and Drug Abuse Council I can assure you I am at ground zero on a daily basis. So with that said I am asking how do you provide a positive argument to the nay sayers for all the gray in between?

[RedCappedBandit]

14. My argument is simply the question I already posed

What purpose does the incarceration of drug users serve? It is immoral and ineffective, hence we should not be doing it.

Edit: Obviously, there are many more reasons to decriminalize. The above is simply one approach.

[Asgaya Dihi]

8. If it feels good?

Where the hell did you get the idea that "if it feels good" was any part of the argument for legalization? Have you ever visited Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, Drug Policy Alliance, or any other related sites to see what it was all about or did you just hear "drug" and assume the rest?

Regulation BTW is the key, not just legalize and call it done. So far nobody has stood between death or damage and our kids but a street dealer, they decide everything from quality control to the age of the client. Changing that would be a start. But that's for another post maybe. First let's deal with WHY we need to change. Here's a little glimpse of what it's all about, I posted much the same elsewhere recently so will just copy it here.

Death rates for cocaine have climbed by SEVEN times since we started keeping records. CLIMBED.

http://www.briancbennett.com/charts/death/cdc/cocaine-yr.htm">CDC Mortality Query Results, Cocaine

Death rates for heroin have seen a similar climb over the same time period.

http://www.briancbennett.com/charts/death/cdc/opiates-yr.htm">CDC Mortality Query Results, Opiates

Where much of it used to be diverted from medical use now it's all unregulated and unclean from start to finish, where they used to know you needed a babysitter and experienced guidance the first few times at least now they try it alone and die alone. Between contaminants, unknown purity and the increased fear which leaves them afraid to ask for help beforehand and afraid to call medical help after the fact we've been killing our own at a rate several times what we had when we first started this mess. The drug war hasn't saved lives, it's cost them, and a lot of them.

At the same time as that's been happening we went from an average nation in these terms to the single most imprisoned nation in the world, both per capita and in raw numbers, and that with a racial imbalance in our justice system that makes South Africa under apartheid look reasonable.

Racial balance
http://www.prisonsucks.com/">PrisonSucks.com

Overall stats, select totals or rates from the dropdown menu.
http://www.kcl.ac.uk/depsta/law/research/icps/worldbrief/wpb_stats.php">ICPS :School of Law :King's College London : World Prison Brief : King's College London

And just for perspective this one is from 2003 so a bit out of date but shows (page 2) the rate of prison/jail growth through the drug war, fairly stable in line with population growth for decades then explosive growth with the drug war that hasn't stopped yet.

http://www.sentencingproject.org/Admin/Documents/publications/inc_comparative_intl.pdf">Comparative International Rates of Incarceration:An Examination of Causes and Trends

That's just brushing over the surface, looking deeper doesn't make it look any better. Avoidable deaths because we refuse needle exchanges, families ruined, and so on. Look at those racial stats again and consider it in context of some of the problems the black community has. Do you think one young man in eight between 25-29 being behind bars today might contribute to those problems a bit, such as with the high number of single parent homes and associated impacts due to that? Again, and again, and again, some of the most major problems we deal with in this nation come back to a single source. Self inflicted wounds. The drug war is responsible for a lot of them, more than it seems on first glance.

It might be time for another look at the issue. What we do today not only doesn't work but damage is WORSE now than it was when we started. If prohibition were a policy instead of a religion we'd have adjusted by now. We take it on faith though that this is what we should be doing, or at least we have so far. And we never even ask about the results or alternatives. Maybe we should.

[Asgaya Dihi]

10. Rule #1, never post when annoyed ;)

The "if it feels good" reference obviously came from the post bulldogge replied to. It's a take on the issue I strongly disagree with but I should have slowed down and handled that differently rather than jumping bulldogge over it. Among those who are actually trying to achieve change it's no part of the argument. It tends to be tossed around mostly by those on the sidelines who aren't familiar with the details of drug war history and its results and it's an argument which personally annoys me given the real damage and problems that the rest of us are trying to solve.

I shouldn't have let that annoyance show in the post though, there was no excuse for it. The rest of the post stands. We do have real issues to deal with here and some of them are deadly serious in the most literal sense of the term. What we have been doing doesn't work, it never has and the results are in our own records for anyone who cares to look.

[bulldogge]

12. I agree with you

and will certainly take the time to read the articles you have listed. As I mentioned before this is my line of work. For alot of people the drug war is nothing more than a bunch of statistics, for others it is a 24 hour 7 day a week reminder of the major flaws in our system. I see the human side of the war that alot of folks don't get to see and frankly it saddens me. Unfortunately in my line of work you don't really get to see the "positive" effects that drugs can have on an individual, quite the opposite I don't feel the need to go into detail to strengthen my position. I am torn inside though. On one hand I don't think that someone should be incarcerated for having a disease (and to clarify I am speaking of addiction and abuse not recreational use in regards to a disease) on the other hand though I have a problem with people pushing lets say meth on our street corners. Obviously the local drug dealer gets it from a fat cat in a suit at the top of the food chain so lets not just blame the low man on the totem pole. But as you mentioned if you take into account all the other issues that may drive someone to deal, poverty etc than do I really have a right to be upset at the guy/girl who is pushing that crap? Why should they punished? They are sick themselves really. Its a very complicated issue, as you know. There has to be a healthy medium achieved while at the same time placing some responsibility some where along the line. Part of that responsibility lies within us part of it lies with society as a whole, problem is is finding a solution that is fair for the guy smoking a joint listening to his Wailers album and what is fair for the guy who is killing their neighbor for a high or cash.

Its a tough subject and I can appreciate your heated response, I wish more people were able to sense the urgency of the issue. Best of luck to you.

[Asgaya Dihi]

13. Thanks

We seem to be more or less on the same page so far though coming at it from different directions maybe. My problem wasn't drugs though I was around them a bit in later years, I did have a four and a half year encounter with the system as a kid and a few years after that on the streets. Those years showed me how arbitrary the system could be and left me with real objections to using the system to "send messages". Justice was left behind long ago in the name of sending the right message, in a lot of respects or subject areas. It's much more than stats to me. The stats were more incidental as I looked for ways to explain what I knew to people. The motivation was 100% personal and I'll skip the details as well for now.

One rule I made for myself years ago is I refuse to defend drugs as such, not even pot, so you won't hear those arguments from here outside of maybe pointing out there's a medical use for something. The dealers I don't sympathize with. I want to run them out of business. It's more about harm reduction and trying to find what works so personally I'm a big fan of trial study with slow implementation rather than sudden moves. If you'd like to discuss it in more detail here or in PM I'd be glad to but I offered a quick example of how we might start on reform in the comment thread attached to http://www.videosift.com/video/Cops-say-legalize-drugs-ask-them-why">this video post on another site. That's not anyones official "plan" as far as I know, just what makes sense from what I've seen over the years, but it's a start for places to look at least and offers tight control of the hard drugs, prescription only and addict only. Others have other approaches that would be worth looking at as well. Maybe parallel studies or something.

The main problem I'd expect is coordination and dealing with those outside the system as it expands. In implementing it we want to move slow so we test it well and are sure it works but we've also got to find a way to avoid any problems such as the Netherlands has occasionally had, conflicting needs it seems. Those with more relaxed systems don't tend to have a big problem with their own but they do have problems with drug tourism and such. Marijuana use in the Netherlands with coffee shops is roughly half of ours with it outright illegal for instance but they are closing or moving border shops due to the drug tourist issues. The recent bridge jump and death of a French teen was the momentum needed to outlaw mushrooms recently, it almost always seems to be drug tourism that's the problem rather than the locals who live with and are used to/educated about the issues.

The more widespread a tested system and associated educational efforts are the more smoothly I expect it to run but I do expect some bumpy spots we'll have to work our way through as well. As you say, not a simple issue.

Peace.

edit to clarify a line

[RaleighNCDUer]

2. Some innovation.

I remember people debating drug courts in the 70s.

So 30-35 years it takes to find out the liberals had it right all along?

Sheesh.

[bulldogge]

3. that

is one of the interesting aspects of having Biden on the ticket. He is largely responsible for drug court. Some people are upset with him because he is also partly responsible for the creation of the drug czar position as we know it today, but in the end I believe his intentions are good.

[BridgeTheGap]

5. People who see the ravages of addiction naturally want to do something about it.

The question is: "what?"
Drug abuse/addiction should be treated primarily as a mental health issue.
Drug dealing should be treated as a criminal offense.
That said, there is a strong argument to be made for legalizing all of it because the illegality fuels organized crime. Look at what's happening in Mexico, Columbia and other places.

[bulldogge]

6. I agree

with you. I work in that particular field so it is a subject that is near and dear to me. It is a subject that the more I know about it the more questions I have concerning my own views on the subject & how they intertwine with a responsible view of community. Abuse/Addiction certainly is a mental health issue and then of course you have the monkey wrench issues of recreational use compared to abusive use etc. Drug dealing is a tough subject as well, in my opinion. I think for the most part the people taking the fall are lower class individual who see the quick/easy money and not the long term effect on their community or the country at large. While the guys making the big bucks have their bases covered for the most part. So I am torn, personally, I certainly have a problem with the idea of someone distributing meth for instance but what can be done for that person much in the same way as the addict to show them there is another route. I also agree with the organized crime point. South America is going to be a hot bed for some time, but another interesting angle is even the rise of heroin addiction and use in the U.S. (especially with high school teens) since we have gone into afghanistan. Similar to the explosion during the 60's and 70's while in Viet Nam. So many people make money at so many levels legally and illegally that it has become a fabric of the economy and overall value system. I am still looking for answers myself but healthy discussion is certainly a start.

[kenichol]

9. Small time dealers are usually addicts

Small time dealers are generally trying to 'afford' their habit by dealing to friends. Not really criminals, imho.