Heroin problem: 'We're not going to arrest our way out of this'

The Dispatch / The Rock Island Argus [IL] ^ | January 18, 2015 | Rachel Warmke

[ConservingFreedom]

Local law enforcers, such as Rock Island County State's Attorney John McGehee and Quad City Metropolitan Enforcement Director Kevin Winslow say the solution to the heroin problem is to stop the dealers.

"We don't focus on addicts and users," Mr. Winslow said. "I think law enforcement as a whole wants to get the source of the problem."

In 2014, local officials filed their first case of drug-induced homicide against Jamil Steward, 26, of East Moline, who was accused of selling heroin that caused the overdose death of Michael Reid, 26, of Silvis.

Mr. Steward entered an Alford plea on Dec. 8 to felony unlawful delivery and is serving seven years in prison. In an Alford plea, the defendant doesn't plead guilty but admits there is enough evidence to convict him.

Similar cases have been brought to federal court, where the penalties are stiffer.

Prison not the answer

Not everyone thinks prison is the answer.

Former Davenport police officer Brian Gaughan was 20 when began his career in 1980. He said he became disenchanted with the War on Drugs while working as an undercover cop in Chicago.

He said he befriended a drug dealer to gather information against him and, at one point, was taken aside by the dealer's mother, who thanked him for being a positive influence on her son, who had gotten involved with the wrong crowd after his father died.

That conversation was life-altering, said Mr. Gaughan, who left police work for a career in firefighting. Now a speaker with the national nonprofit Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, he advocates for decriminalization and regulation of controlled substances in the United States.

"Arresting a dealer doesn't solve any problems at all," he said. "In fact, it exacerbates problems.”

Game of whack-a-mole

He believes the theory that "going after dealers will mean less drugs" is misguided, comparing it to a game of whack-a-mole -- "You arrest one guy and three more pop up.”

Mr. Gaughan said there's an endless supply of drug dealers to replace ones who are arrested, and that can lead to turf wars and gang violence.

He supports reform of the criminal justice system, saying more resources should be allocated for drug treatment and social support on the front end to reduce demand and curb drug-related criminal behavior.

“We spend an awful lot of money in jailing people. We don't spend nearly as much money treating them,” said Mary Engholm, executive director of the Rock Island County Council on Addictions.

Overcrowding and lack of local treatment providers has led to lengthy wait times for treatment and limited long-term case management, she said.

That's created a “different class of criminal,” including users -- some homeless and without proper help -- who commit petty crimes and cycle in and out of the courts like a "revolving door," Ms. Engholm said.

More people have been able to access treatment since the Affordable Care Act was passed, but RICCA's long-term residential facility remains filled to its 34-bed capacity, she said.

Naloxone for overdoses

In Iowa, activists are seeking to pass a Good Samaritan law similar to ones passed in Illinois and 19 other states that allow people to report an emergency overdose without fear of being arrested.

"It could save lives," said Kim Brown, of Davenport, co-founder of the QC Overdose Awareness Walk, an annual event that started last year. The bill would allow over-the-counter purchase of Naloxone, a drug carried by paramedics that can reverse opiate overdoses, she said.

According to the Trust for American Health, a national group concerned about a prescription drug “epidemic,” from 1999 through 2013, the number of drug overdose deaths quadrupled in Iowa and increased by 49 percent in Illinois.

Ms. Brown, whose 33-year-old son Andy died from an overdose in May 2011, believes those numbers could be reduced if Naloxone were more readily available.

She said her son was a fun-loving man who played football and loved his two sons. She doesn't know when his addiction began, but she speculated it may have been after he was prescribed opiates following a surgical procedure.

No one wants to be an addict

“Nobody's born saying they want to grow up to become an addict.” Ms. Brown said, adding that addicts often are “stigmatized and shamed” rather than treated. “We've got to find a better way.”

Mr. Gaughan points to places such as Portugal, where drug use was decriminalized in 2001, and Switzerland, which offers heroin addicts access to clinics with clean needles and pure heroin as part of drug treatment services, as examples to emulate.

“Putting someone in a cage doesn't solve the problem at all,” he said.

Mr. Winslow said he realizes "we're not going to arrest our way out of this."

He recommends a coordinated effort by local police, courts and treatment centers to identify and treat the source of addiction for users, while halting those who profit from heroin distribution.

[outpostinmass2]

I thought this was a site where adults can discuss topics in a rational manner. Who said anything about guns. Hey, about that medicine I just brewed up. Want a taste?

[DiogenesLamp]

But as Diogenes said, we have to live in the real world where “entirely free of” is not possible. As he points out, it’s also unrealistic to say, “since there is some heroin, it means all efforts to control heroin are a failure”. Both sides of the all-or-nothing proposition are utopian and unrealistic.

I believe the current status quo of ~2% usage is a compromise between what is possible, and what our citizens will tolerate. A lot of Americans are squeamish about the idea of just killing drug dealers. They think it is too harsh, and so even though that is the path to improvement, it is further than most Americans want their government to go, so here we are living with what is essentially a compromise.

Singapore goes further, and has a much lower percentage of drug usage. We just don't want to go that far.

To me there are two important questions, the first being, how do we deal with the unintended consequences of the drug war — such as the proliferation of SWAT insanity and the criminal seizures of property that is owned by people who have not been convicted of any crime.

Much of the drug war has been used to justify what is just blatant abuse. We never should have tolerated these ideas such as "Asset Forfeiture" without trial and so on.

The second being a more general, what is to be done?

I am reminded of what that Irishman said in the movie "Braveheart."

The Lord says he can get me out of this mess, but he's pretty sure you're f***ed!

There may not be a viable solution. The country appears to be heading towards chaotic dissolution. The mechanisms which tended to keep people civilized in the past have been disabled by liberal rule and liberal courts, and I suspect it's going to be a free for all at some point down the road. This seems appropriate:

If you want a more scientific analysis of what is happening, I can give you a link to a very good explanation.

[DiogenesLamp]

Your "umbrella" of the Defense Clause is a made up phantom.

I suspect we'd all be happier if dealers became phantoms.

[ConservingFreedom]

I thought this was a site where adults can discuss topics in a rational manner. Who said anything about guns.

You were talking about dead people; are people dead from guns any less dead than people dead from bad medicine?

[DiogenesLamp]

It’s easier (and there are fewer repercussions) for a kid in high school to get heroin than a 6-pack of beer.

That is a blatant and bald-faced Libertarian lie. It is nonsense on the face of it.

[DiogenesLamp]

So citing authorities is argument by authority and is bad, but the flip side of that coin is good. Got it.

If you want to believe that the UNITED NATIONS are competent at anything, be my guest, but don't be such a fool as to think any rational person is going to agree with you about it.

And for what it's worth, betting on incompetency from fools or authorities is a pretty safe bet.

[DiogenesLamp]

You were talking about dead people; are people dead from guns any less dead than people dead from bad medicine?

Little children should be seen and not heard.

[ConservingFreedom]

betting on incompetency from fools or authorities is a pretty safe bet.

Yeah, only some guy on the Internet who goes by "DiogenesLamp" is to be believed.

[outpostinmass2]

I have read and studied the Federalist Papers and I agree they are fascinating reading. Lets say for argument I am brewing up koolaide to be sold for in state only. While I kill only people in my state for a while what happens when someone buys it and brings it to your state and kills people. How does one stop commerce from leaving their state? What if I set-up shop in your state, sell everyone the koolaide but never leave my state?

[outpostinmass2]

You were talking about dead people; are people dead from guns any less dead than people dead from bad medicine?

---

No, but a gun is designed to kill or maim. Food and medicine is not suppose to kill. You can’t see the difference?

[Lurker]

“While I kill only people in my state for a while what happens when someone buys it and brings it to your state and kills people.”

Murder is a crime in all 50 states I believe. Feel free to correct me if I’m wrong on that. Pretty sure I’m right, though.

See Wickard v Filburn for the tortured legal logic of your next question.

Best,

L

[outpostinmass2]

No, no I’m make my own brand of koolaide. Those people are just blaming me for those deaths. I had hundreds of people who drink it and they lived. We tested it on lab rats it’s all good. I know the guy who did it. He used his own standards, none of those silly federal regulations. Anyway this guy just bought some and is bringing it down to you. What is the big deal?

[RFEngineer]

“That is a blatant and bald-faced Libertarian lie. It is nonsense on the face of it”

Yeah, legalizing beer for 18 year-olds is a huge Libertarian issue. Boy, you sure outed me in a hurry. Putz.

[RFEngineer]

“Of course, because dealers don’t card - only in a legal regulated market can age restrictions be enforced.”

Plus rehab is the perfect government/government-funded enterprise. You throw kids into the front end, and spit them out at the back end, and you don’t have to be accountable for whether the time and expense actually accomplished anything.

Socialists keep their jobs, they keep pretending to care, and the keep recycling the same folks through rehab time and again.

[DiogenesLamp]

Yeah, legalizing beer for 18 year-olds is a huge Libertarian issue. Boy, you sure outed me in a hurry. Putz.

If you think it's easier to get Heroin than beer, you are deluded. (Note how I completely ignore the fact that you deliberately misstated my point? Somebody has to be a grown up in these discussions.)

[ConservingFreedom]

a gun is designed to kill or maim.

And that somehow gives it constitutional protections from regulation that food and medicine lack?

[outpostinmass2]

a gun is designed to kill or maim.
And that somehow gives it constitutional protections from regulation that food and medicine lack?

---

Do you eat guns?

[ConservingFreedom]

a gun is designed to kill or maim.

And that somehow gives it constitutional protections from regulation that food and medicine lack?

Do you eat guns?

Nonresponsive. You have yet to show that the difference you note is relevant to constitutional status.

[outpostinmass2]

Drugs you can ingest. Food you can ingest. Guns, not so much. I have to go. It has been nice talking to you.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Yep. What you said. You have to WANT to kick your bad habits.