Man Steals Cans to Buy Crack
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I recently read an article about a man who was stealing from outside of a 7/11 store in Michigan. The story goes a little something like this: “Police say he opened the door to an outside storage room, grabbed a large bag filled with cans and put them in his car and drove away. Police say the man was stopped, the 247 cans recovered and the man was put under arrest.” (Source Mlive.com) The reason the man was stealing cans…crack. That’s right he wanted to hit the pipe.
This story just underscores the sad fact the drugs can bring you to some pretty low places. Stealing cans so you can recycle them to get $20 so you can get high on crack. If any parent thought their child’s life would end up like that, they would have probably remained abstinent. What many people fail to realize is that the war against drugs isn’t just about catching people using, or even selling drugs. A good deal of the war on drugs is fought by law enforcement on a day to day basis simply in the course of an average day. The fact is that so many other crimes, such as our can stealer, related back to drugs. Domestic violence, theft, murder; so often we come to find out that behind it all is a drug.
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This story and its mention of what law enforcement see on a day to day basis is EXACTLY why we need to begin the process of looking at the “War on drugs” from another angle. We have been “fighting” this war for twenty or thirty years and to date have not made a huge amount of progress in slowing its progress. If we begin to look at this from another viewpoint, as a “public health issue first, then a legal issue” (that statement came from a physician in an article I found at NIDA), we may find we begin to truly make progress.
This would mean rearranging our processes within the legal system to get people who are charged with crimes involving drug use, abuse, and selling into adequate treatment for their addiction. We have been looking at this problem from the perspective of “remove the supply the demand will go down”, however, if someone is addicted to a substance, they WILL find it, they WILL get it, they HAVE TO HAVE IT. Once someone is sitting the throws of addiction, they are not in control any longer. They will get the substance their body is craving at great cost to themselves and sometimes others. Therefore, removing the supply actually elevates the possibilities of more serious situations arising in my thinking. The harder it is to get, the more likely they are to do something more serious, possibly even more violent.
So let’s look at the other side of this. I can envision a system in which the first time someone is arrested for an offense in which drug use/abuse is a causative factor, they will be required by the court to go to either an outpatient facility and attend meetings or just attend meetings, there will be a check of some kind like having people at the treatment facility and the meeting leader having to sign something and then it will be reviewed in 30 days by the judge to be sure that the person has done what was required of them. Second offense would look something like being admitted to a 30 to 60 day inpatient facility and again needing to see the judge at the end of the treatment. Third offense would either be a therapeutic community situation (which I believe is a wonderful option) or depending on the situation a drug court situation. All of these would also have the idea the non-compliance would result in a lot of community service, probation or incarceration (all depending on the circumstances surrounding what got them there and what they did). Now obviously this is not for someone who has commited a violent crime in which someone has been seriously injured or killed, but more of the stealing situation. Most often the crimes that are committed are DUE to the drug use/abuse. In other words they would not have committed the crime if they did not have the substance abuse problem. The treatment facilities could be created using monies that are now earmarked to build more prisons (because incarceration has been the answer up until recently). Therapeutic communities actually have the participant paying their way through the program as does drug court to a certain extent.
If we remove the demand, the supply goes down because there is no one out there to sell to. Well, I truly don’t believe we will completely erradicate this off the face of the planet, but I DO believe we can lessen its impact and make it a manageable problem. My thoughts are, “Let’s stop fighting the WAR ON DRUGS and start empowering people”. I know this sounds a little idealistic, but I watch it here in my own community and have a family member in the midst of it all. There are not adeuqate treatment facilities available in a 100 mile radius of where I live to deal with addictions such as methamphetamine or cocaine. The national standard is a 90 day minimum treatment facility and in this area there are very few and most are private and very expensive. That makes them inaccessible for many people who truly need it. I see the difficulty of what we have gone through in trying to work within the legal system and get help for someone and it is just frustrating. These people are not just numbers, they are broken, hurting individuals that made a poor choice in how to deal with their problems. The answer to the problem is not just to incarcerate them and get them off the street. That is a very, very costly answer to the problem and has not worked in a lot of years. Getting people adequate treatment IS a true answer to this problem and is much more cost effective.
Addiction left unchecked WILL escalate. We need more education about the problem and truly what it takes to get to a place of recovery. People have a false understanding that once you remove the drug, they are fine. That is the farthest from the truth. It is a huge step forward, but once that has been done, the really hard work begins and too many programs leave people hanging at this point, at least in this community.
The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. Isn’t it time we stop doing that and start REALLY viewing the situation as it is and putting programs in place that can really work. The process is starting (unfortunately for us is seems to be everywhere else but here). In this area we have had a judge who got drug court into the area which is a huge step forward. The big problem now is getting the solicitor’s to see the advantages of this. I live in South Carolina where change is not something that people are real excited about, but I am encouraged that there is someone here who is willing to get the ball rolling. I am working hard to get some ideas together and get out there myself. I KNOW beyond the shadow of a doubt that the above listed “program” would be less costly to the community, the person’s family, and the state then just putting someone in prison. As Judge Simmons said in another article placed on this website,
We need to stop warehousing addicts. This is NOT a solution. Actually if it were the solution, we would have solved the problem a very long time ago.
I realize there are many more details that need to be worked out in my “plan”, but I do believe it is a good place to start the sounding board of ideas to make a bigger step forward in dealing with this overwhelming problem.
I believe (as one man did nearly 3,000 years ago) that the cause of any problem is an innocent [mis-perception of reality.] Many therapists are looking towards an approach that is new (well atleast knew to the typical western schools of psychological thought) so they are and have been focusing on a “middle way” a way in which addicts or offenders, etc can trully get a grip on the way in which reality really exists.
A “middle way” would open up the options for people; because most of us tend to go to extremes: “good” “bad” “right” “wrong.” With a middle way as one teacher had mentioned:
The middle way has neither two sides nor a middle. That is the middle way. A middle way opens many outlets for a cleaner healing process may take place.
I’m no expert on this at all, but I do know that they have tons of info online. Just google: The Middle way (Madhyamaka) approach in therapy treatment. Something ought to come up.
So, I do think that better (and more) options are a better bet in any healing process. No rights - no wrongs - just better understanding of how reality really works.