Addiction: A 'Meth Prison' Movement

[Nevernose]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12333791/site/newsweek/?GT1=7938

April 24, 2006 issue - As the methamphetamine epidemic continues to ravage the country, some states are responding with a new innovation: "meth prisons" dedicated exclusively to inmates addicted to the drug. The Montana Department of Corrections just approved construction of two of them—an 80-inmate unit for men and a 40-inmate unit for women. Illinois, which already has a two-year-old drug prison that handles a variety of addictions, plans to open two meth-specific facilities by July 2007; each one will house 200 male inmates.
SNIP
Similar approaches appear to be working elsewhere. In Indiana, where corrections officials have set up meth units within four regular prisons in the past year, 66 members of the first graduating class were released about six months ago; so far, none have committed another offense. In Illinois, recidivism among inmates released from the drug prison is 50 percent less than among a comparable group in the regular prisons. "It will take a few years for us to know whether this strategy works," says Jeremy Travis of John Jay College of Criminal Justice, who praises the states' efforts. Communities, he says, desperately need "new responses to a profoundly serious problem that threatens public safety and public health."

Seems like a great idea to me. Treatment, even FORCED treatment, and not punishment for what is a medical problem.

[Keseys Ghost]

1. Agreed. The situation is out of hand.

I earn my living as a criminal defense lawyer. I worked through the crack cocaine phase, the oxy phase (which is ongoing in new forms), and the meth phase (which continues to rage). Never have I seen such widespread devistation amongst my clients as has been wraught by crystal meth.

A whole generation of young people from several nearby rural communities is now behind bars. Young men and women, many of whom are parents, doing time with little or no effective rehab. They'll come home the same people who left and the problem esculates.

It's a bummer.

[panader0]

2. A good idea

I have seen many people get so screwed up from that shit. In the construction trades the problem is worse, I think. Most carpentry or masonry or roofing crews don't require drug testing. It seems that most crime anymore is related to crank. Recidivism among released crankers is 'way high, nearly 90% I believe. Any energy used to slow this shit down is a ggod idea.

[Asgaya Dihi]

3. It's a problem, but...

Meth was around in the 70's, when I was a kid the bikers would almost always have some. These things go through phases, a number of years ago it was crack and now it's meth. The drug doesn't get more or less dangerous, it just gets our attention for a change.

It is dangerous if abused and has a high potential for abuse, but personally I think it's overstated in terms of "national emergency".

There's an article in a recent Drug War Chronicle and another in a recent issue of Slate that you might be interested in for some info most haven't heard in the debate. Yes it's a real problem, but yes there's also more than a little politics and hype involved.

http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/397/methandmyth.shtml
http://www.slate.com/id/2124160/

[ScreamingMeemie]

4. I thought so too, until a good friend of mine...wife, business owner,

all american "girl next door", fell into its clutches. A whole new demographic has found this drug...and it is a nationwide epidemic. I am a real estate appraiser. I cannot tell you how many "meth" or possible meth labs I have seen in the kitchens of suburban homes. It is an epidemic. One we need to find decent treatment for.

[Warpy]

9. It's an especially seductive drug for working women

who work double shifts at work and and home and are expected to keep supermodel figures after multiple childbirth. Not only does it give you huge energy, it also kills your appetite stone dead. Then it makes you crazy. Oh well.

The routine around here is drop the kids off, cook the meth, sell the surplus, go to the part time job tweaked up, get home in time for supper, do all the housework, collapse at 3 AM and then get up at 5:30 to do it all over again.

We were able to largely get rid of the stuff in the late 60s because better drugs were cheap and freely available. That isn't the case now, thanks to success by the DEA in stopping pot, especially.

Meth is a bad drug. Nobody disputes that. Meth heads need help, and maybe this program will provide it.

[Rose Siding]

5. Actually, meth does get "more or less dangerous"

depending on the ease of availablity of some of the components used in its manufacture. Frontline (I think) did a special tracking the rise and fall of meth addiction which explained this.

[Asgaya Dihi]

7. True enough

When adulterated it can add to problems, yes. That goes for all of our illegal drugs and is a good part of why death rates have climbed through the war on drugs. The death rate for cocaine for example was 0.1 back in the 70's, it's now about 0.7.

I see that more as a function of prohibition and the lack of quality control and regulation than I do a problem of the drug itself. We're still giving related products to service people today, it's the unregulated aspect that causes the problems.

[justice1]

6. That's a good idea.

I was thinking about starting a thread, that asked for "new" ideas to tackle problems.

Basically, I am looking for programs that have been shown to be effective, so posters can pass on the information to their own representatives.

[Asgaya Dihi]

13. Some sources for ideas

There are a lot of places out there working on options, I'll include a link below that shows a program I'm especially hopeful about. They don't need to lock anyone up, but they have some results that put anything we've done to shame.

http://www.dpft.org/heroin.htm

If you go to the contact page for the site you can reach a group of people who are as active in the field as any I'm aware of, they should have a more complete list of what studies are current and other ones that are being planned. I know that Canada and some other places are in the planning phase for studies based on the results of the link posted above, we also tried it here in the US back in the early 1900's and it worked well where properly applied till the feds shut it down.

Other good places might be http://www.drugsense.org/ and http://www.dpf.org/homepage.cfm

[Warpy]

8. I know more than one recovering addict

who got clean in prison and went to 12 step meetings while still in the joint who said being locked up was central to his early recovery. While the civil libertarian and the anti drug war crusader in me shrivel at the thought, incarceration would seem an essential part of helping some folks rehabilitate. It's really hard to avoid confronting what the problem really is when you're sitting in a cell day after day, listening to your body scream for a drug you can't get your hands on.

I also know garden variety drunks who said being confined in a rehab center was essential to their first weeks of recovery. Every single one of them has said all they could think about for the first week was going on a bender the day they got out; most of them were forced to confront the demons while they were in rehab and quite a few of them have managed to stay sober.

There's got to be a middle ground for addicts of all descriptions, something between hard time in prison and "just say no."

This program sounds like a great one. My guess is that eventually it'll turn out to be a model program.

[Neil Lisst]

10. Meth is a minor problem compared to alcohol.

This is more of the same - LOOK, THERE'S SOME ILLEGAL DRUG THAT NEEDS BIG BROTHER TYPE CONTROLS AND TREATMENT!!

Sorry, but I don't buy into benevolent despotism in the name of cleaning up America's "illegal" drug problem. The kids walking around wacked out of their gourds in middle school and high school aren't on meth, they're on prescription drugs.

[Maat]

19. I disagree with you.

I was a social worker for seven years, and have worked with addicts on a volunteer basis since then.

There is NO comparison. Over 99% of the abuse, neglect, and abandonment I saw was related to methamphetamine. People become aggitated, paranoid, and violent when on meth to a degree I've never seen with an alcoholic due to the jolt it gives their body.

Don't misunderstand me; alcohol is dangerous, and no one knows better than me since my dad was an alcoholic of the highest order for over 50 years, and is currently dying of an Alzheimers-like disease. He has been psychotic for eight years now. Nasty, stubborn and prone to pushing he was, but he never told me, like one client I had, "I was so aggitated and paranoid, and I felt superhuman strength. If you hadn't taken my child into custody, he would dead, I had been planning to jump out of a third-story window with him."

I've had many friends and clients stop; but they had to think that they had hit rock bottom. I hate to say it, but a jail-stay saved many, many lives. We do have a successful problem out here, in which, after having spent a bit of time in jail, they are directed to a treatment program, and given a choice, "Complete it or do your time."

And I'm sure glad that a certain relative of mine is alive and well, around to raise his beautiful daughter.

[DrBloodmoney]

11. Idiots... it's a medical issue not a criminal one...

[Nevernose]

18. Did you read the whole article?

They are using medical treatment for addicts who have committed other crimes, crimes with a victim, as a result of their drug addiction. The cops, DAs, and judges know that real criminals, not just drug addicts, need to be locked away. They're also starting to realize that many of these crimes were a result of drug addiction, and some inherent lack of morality, and therefore want to treat the root. Seperating from the general population -- drug addicts in one place, and hardcore criminals in another -- and giving the addicts MEDICAL TREATMENT instead of simple punishment? Isn't medical treatment instead of punishment what you're advocating?

What's the recidivism rate so far in Illinois, either as a drug addict or an actual criminal?

And keep in mind that this isn't pot we're talking about here...

[porphyrian]

12. Imprisoning addicts does nothing to stop drug use.

In fact, some drugs are easier to get in prison than on the street. This is just another example of people trying to make a problem "go away" rather than to face reality and do what it will actually take to solve it.

[catmandu57]

14. I like the removal from the general population

These people for the most part aren't criminals and shouldn't have to be exposed to the hardcore criminal that lands in our penal institutes.
Ideally, I'd like to see this whole drug war go away, it's insanity locking people up for using drugs other than what big nanny says is okay to use.

[Exultant Democracy]

15. Great now all 80 meth heads in Montana can get help

this is more or less a joke, in the end there is only one cost effective way to fight this problem and it is in the schools. I am sure that a lot of people in Montana are going to be re-elected because of this. Schools, Schools, Schools... Drugs abuse, violence, republicans, they are all just symptoms. Better educations leads to less crime, less drug abuse, less poverty and fewer Republicans.

[Neil Lisst]

16. we're already the most incarcerating society on earth!!

Good God Almighty! If you think incarceration is the answer to almost ANY problem, you're dangerous.

If someone is a threat to hurt seriously someone else, then let's talk about incarceration. But 80% of our prisoners are not in that category.

I'm a lot more concerned about the prison lobby than I am a few hundred thousand toothless rednecks who would be high on something else if they didn't have meth.
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note: generalized topic rant, not necessarily a direct response to the OP, eh?

[Nevernose]

17. I agree wholeheartedly.

I would like to point out that the meth problem though, at least on the West Coast, is far more serious than "a few hundred thousand toothless rednecks." That's just the ones they show you on TV. It's spreading to rich suburban kids and families faster than Michael Crighton's Andromeda Strain.

I realize that you weren't specificzally addressing mer, and it was more of a generalized rant about the atrocious tate of our prison system (there would be no end to our agreement there, I'm sure), but there are a couple of other common incorrect assumptions that people make about the prison system that I'd like to correct.

At the state level, most offenders are in prison not for minor drug crimes, but for offences related to their drug use, especially in the last few years. Most violent offenders, for instance -- about 4 out of 5 -- were drunk or high when they committed their crimes. According to both the original article and from what I've seen first hand, most addicts in prison (not jail) are there for other offenses related to the acquisition of money to buy drugs: forgery, fraud, robbery, larceny, et cetera. Many urban locales have now set up drug courts featuring mandatory group therapy and random UAs, which are more successful than simply sentencing people to a prison term. In Las Vegas, for instance, it has become too expensive to sentence everybody to any kind of prison term at all, so many addicts get two or even three chances before being sent to prison, and then only sentenced if they've committed other crimes in addition to simple drug possession.

Meth destroys lives, families, and whole communities. It makes good people do bad things, and makes sane people go batshit crazy. It has a recovery rate of about six percent. Once addicted, you've got a better chance of getting off crack cocaine or even heroin, and it doesn't even need to be imported (buy American!).

Of course, as far as I'm concerned, a better alternative to forced imprisonment -- even in special rehap facilities -- would be to remove the stigma of rehab and use the proceeds from legalized pot to set up free treatment facilities for those poor bastards addicted to a real drug, like coke or crank or heroin or even (especially?) alcohol.

[Maat]

20. I agree (n/t).