Hugs, Not Drugs

By
Kimberley Arnold

LEPSL 500 Critical Issues in Law Enforcement and Public Safety

The United States is responsible for countless remarkable achievements throughout

history; we built the transcontinental railroad, sent man to the moon, and invented the internet.

We are a nation that pulls together to solve problems and now it is time we did this again. One

of the most devastating problems we face today is the criminalization of drug use and drug

addiction and the consequences of those policies.

The view on drug users is astoundingly negative from society’s and law enforcement’s

perspective. Police effectively dehumanize persons involved in drug use, labeling them drug

dealers or junkies. In Cop in My Hood: My Year Policing Baltimore’s Eastern District by Peter

Moskos, drug addicts in the ghetto are referred to as junkies, “Junkies don’t have rights. They’re

not even considered people.” A similar point of view is shared in Steven Levitt’s TED talk

regarding drug dealing youth in the inner-city. He explains that black teenagers living in the

housing projects in Chicago were recruited to work as low-level street dealers selling drugs for

gangs. “They are at the bottom of the organization, all of the people in this organization are at the

bottom, marginalized, with no legitimate ways out of the projects” (Levitt, 2005).

It wasn’t always this way, how did this come to be? In a presentation by Dr. Erik

Fritsvold, he explained how drug control laws began in 1906 with the Pure Food and Drug Act,

which regulated labeling of products containing certain drugs including cocaine and heroin. Then

in 1914 the Harrison Narcotics Tax Act was passed, a United States federal law that became the

first landmark piece of legislation targeting illicit drugs in particular, regulating the production,

importation, and distribution of opiates and coca products. It brought what we now consider to

be illicit drugs under the umbrella of medical professionals, and, thereby, criminalized the
recreational use or distribution of those drugs (Fritsvold, E.). Today, while the United States

represents about 4.4 percent of the world’s population, it houses around 22 percent of the world’s

prisoners (Walmsley, R.). And we remain the most avid consumer of drugs. The number of

incarcerated drug offenders has increased twelvefold since 1980. In 2000, 22 percent of those in

federal and state prisons were convicted on drug charges (FBI, Uniform Crime Reports).

As a nation how can we band together to fix this epidemic of punitive punishment for

drug users and addicts? A softer stance on marijuana has already begun. Per the CATO Institute,

voters in 2012 in the states of Colorado and Washington approved ballot initiatives legalizing

marijuana for recreational use. Alaska and Oregon followed suit two years later. CATO’s data

shows these four states are not worse-off after legalization of marijuana (CATO Institute, 2016).

The new American drug policy will be a complete decriminalization of drug use,

meaning nobody gets arrested, goes to jail or prison, or faces criminal punishment for

possessing a small amount of a drug for authorized personal use. A sociological approach will be

taken, similar to Portugal, when in 2001, it decriminalized (not legalized) all drugs. Dramatic

drops in overdoses, HIV infection, and drug-related crime were seen. “This could not have

happened without a culture shift and how the country viewed drugs and addiction. The official

policy of decriminalization paved the way for a broad range of services (health, psychiatry,

employment, housing) that had been struggling to pool their resources and expertise, to work

together more effectively to serve their communities. It was also crucial that those who were

referred to as “junkies” were more accurately referred to “people who use drugs” or “people with

addiction disorders” (Ferreria, S. 2017). Monetary fines will be issued if someone is found under

the influence in public and for possessing more than a 10-day supply of drugs. The goal is to
focus on the science and sociology of addiction. When the addict is in the throes of their

addiction, they do not care what harm is being done to their bodies, personal or familial

relationships. Scare tactics won’t work at that moment as they will risk everything for that

relief/high. We need to find out in the moment they want to get high, psychologically what is

occurring that will allow them to risk everything in their life - freedom, family, and death. “For

true addicts, those persons whose dependency extends beyond the physical—getting away from

the opioids (or whatever the addiction happens to be) is merely the tip of the iceberg. Their lack,

fear, and avoidance of vulnerability and emotional intimacy must also be addressed. As such, it

is no surprise that we consistently find significant links between early-life family

dysfunction/trauma and later-life emotional and psychological disorders” (Consultant, 2016).

Following Portugal’s model, the drug user/addict will go before a 3 person panel of a medical

professional, a social worker and a lawyer, who will decide what type of treatment best suits the

individual. Budgets currently spent on imprisoning users and addicts will instead be used for

treatment and rehabilitation. Criminal penalties will apply to drug growers, dealers, and

traffickers. How law enforcement personnel is trained to interact and treat drug users and addicts

will be changed.

People are going to consume drugs regardless of what types of laws are enacted. The goal

is to erase the shame, stigma, and hopelessness of being a drug user or addicted to drugs. The

1980’s War on Drugs was not a war on drugs at all, it was a war on drug users and addicts, and

they have paid a heavy price.

CATO Institute, Policy Analysis. September 16, 2016 | Number 799 Dose of Reality The Effect

of State Marijuana Legalizations By Angela Dills, Sietse Goffard, and Jeffrey Miron

Consultant - Why Do People With Addictions Seek to Escape Rather Than Connect? A Look at

the Approach to Addiction Treatment. Volume 56 - Issue 9 - September

2016.https://www.consultant360.com/articles/why-do-people-addictions-seek-escape-rath

er-connect-look-approach-addiction-treatment

FBI, Uniform Crime Reports. United States Crime Rates 1960–2009.

http://www.disastercenter.com/crime/uscrime.htm

Ferreria, Susana. Portugal’s Radical Drugs Policy is Working and Why Hasn’t the World Copied
It? December, 5, 2017.
https://www.theguardian.com/news/2017/dec/05/portugals-radical-drugs-policy-is-worki
ng-why-hasnt-the-world-copied-it

Fritsvold, E. Presentation 2.1: American Drug Policy: A Socio-Historical Analysis of Punitive

Prohibition. Retrieved from University of San Diego, LEPSL- 500 Critical Issues in Law

Enforcement and Public Safety.

Harrison Narcotics Tax Act, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harrison_Narcotics_Tax_Act

https://www.ted.com/talks/steven_levitt_analyzes_crack_economics/transcript?language

=en

Moskos, P. Chapter 3 New Jack: Learning to Do Drugs from Cop in the Hood: My Year Policing

Baltimore’s Eastern District, 2009.

Adi, R. MD.Narconon, New Life Retreat. The Root of Addiction. Retrieved February 1, 2019.
https://www.narcononnewliferetreat.org/addiction-recovery/the-root-of-addiction.html

Walmsley, R. World Prison Population List (tenth edition). International Centre for Prison

Studies. November 21, 2013.