For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong. —H. L. Mencken I've always been a little skeptical of arguments that legalizing drugs will end drug related crime as though it's self-evident. This NY Times commentary makes the case that cartels are really organized crime groups and they will just find … Continue reading Legalization Won’t Kill the Cartels
Category: Policy
Why Obama’s Deputy Drug Czar Dropped Out
The Fix snagged an interview with Thomas McLellan. It's definitely worth the time it takes to read it. He spends some time discussing the segregation of addiction services, at topic that he and I are not on the same page about. He briefly discusses his reasons for an abstinence orientation (for addicts): Do you expect there will … Continue reading Why Obama’s Deputy Drug Czar Dropped Out
The Drug War 40 years later
The LA Times offers a round-up of responses to the 40th anniversary of the drug war. They have been popping up everywhere for the last week and half but I haven't linked to them because they all bemoan the incarceration rate and then argue for legalization. Some give lip service to treatment, but few spend … Continue reading The Drug War 40 years later
Tab Dump
Parents of drug addicts need our help - A plea for drug policy depates to consider the needs of parents of addicts. For families carrying the burden of drug dependency, the public and political debate often centres on the rhetoric of how to send the right message to young people. It's an empty argument for those … Continue reading Tab Dump
Locked out?
Many of our clients have criminal records, so this is an important barrier to recovery: We ran an audit experiment that sent trained testers to apply for more than 1,000 entry-level jobs throughout New York City. The fake job applicants were dressed similarly, gave similar answers, and provided résumés with identical education and work experience. … Continue reading Locked out?
Turning on the lights
Reason, which consistently advocates for decriminalization, posted an op-ed on losing the drug war: Trying to solve the problem of addiction through incarceration is like trying to get rid of a cockroach infestation by turning on the lights. The temporary solution doesn’t address the underlying problem, which requires treatment. Sometimes locking a user up doesn’t … Continue reading Turning on the lights
a curious lack of skepticism
The American Scholar has a brutal take-down of the relationship between drug companies and medical journals. Flimsy plastic pens that scream the virtues of Vioxx and articles published in the pages of The New England Journal of Medicine would seem to mark the two poles of medical influence. Scarcely any doctor admits to being influenced by the … Continue reading a curious lack of skepticism
A basic human right
A letter to The Guardian expresses a sentiment that I believe is unsaid but at the at the root of many drug policy disagreements: the "war" is not only wrong in practice, it is wrong in principle. The right to intoxicate is a fundamental human right, as basic as the rights to worship or to engage in … Continue reading A basic human right
In the news
The Times Colonist has a series on addiction that grapples with the questions of what services to provide (Namely, harm reduction vs. treatment.) in the context of scarce resources.
“the drug of choice right now”
The NY Times reports on the new hot drug in prisons: Mr. Barrett and other prison officials nationwide are searching their facilities, mail and visitors for Suboxone, a drug used as a treatment for opiate addiction that has become coveted as contraband. Innovative smugglers have turned crushed Suboxone pills into a paste and spread it under … Continue reading “the drug of choice right now”
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