Posted on 01/20/2015 10:24:15 AM PST by 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.
I remember the hard lessons learned in the late 60’s early 70’s about how deadly heroin use was. Guess every new generation has to find out personally. History repeats. Sad.
Merchants of death and misery deserve that which they dispense...
Rehab worked for my son. He now counsels others and runs a drug-free home for teens.
My nephew overdosed on heroin and died at 19, supposedly the first time he tried it.
The ex-husband tried rehab; he was just phoning it in. I divorced him. He’s got a new wife with an equally bad drug habit, now. A match made in Heaven. *Rolleyes*
My life is fantastic now, with both of them out of it. It’s 5 years out - still don’t trust my son. Don’t know if I ever will. *SHRUG*
It is what it is. HOWEVER - more needs to be done, other than just letting our loved ones DIE, which seems to be the consensus from Freepers who have lived charmed lives.
*Rolleyes*
"Pimping" implies you have reason to think I'd profit from legalization (more so than the average citizen profits from an improvement in government policy). What is that reason?
You’re a lying fool.
Legalization will create an untold overwhelming number (millions) of dopers and addicts unable to work and entirely dependent on crime and welfare for their pitiful existence.
I get that you equate beer and marijuana as equal and that Marijuana Prohibition is as evil as when booze was banned.
But heroin? You seriously wanna take a stab at arguing the benefits of legalizing heroin?
Go for it, troll.
Our county just elected a new Sheriff. Apparently the old one just cleaned up the bodies with overdose cases. The new Sheriff said that any OD will be investigated to try to find who the dealer was a nail them.
They just busted a couple this week.
I know a young man who just went through a Christian rehab program. It’s a 7 month program, not 3-4 days like the celebrity stuff. He really seems to be on the right path.
Self responsibility !
The Drug Nazis want to blame drugs instead of the individual. Exactly like the Mooseslimes blame Women!
You are new here, and it appears that your main reason for joing FR is to promote legalizing drugs, even dangerous narcotics. Your posting history proves this.
Our problems are not fundamentally political in nature, and will not be solved by political means. Our problems are fundamentally spiritual in nature; they exist in a realm where the State should tread carefully if at all. Our help is not in government.
Our help is in The Lord, who made Heaven and Earth.
In Singapore which was historically the shipping point for most of the world’s opium they have an answer. If you sell drugs and are convicted they hang you (right now!).
Too may lives are totally destroyed by these drugs. You need to treat the traffickers like rabid animals.
You posted thus liberal Nazi mush head garbage.
So you think there are untold millions who are deterred by the chance of arrest and conviction, but absent that chance would not be deterred by the inherent dangers of the drug? Why should anyone believe that dubious claim? Are YOU such a person?
CF never tires of pimping for legalizing drugs.
______________________________________________
It’s is raison d’être. Oh, once is a great while he will comment off topic. He was banned and zotted once before for trolling FR with his non stop pro dope agenda.
But he re-registered and is allowed back. Now even to promote heroin?
I don’t usually ping Jim about his pro-weed agenda, but pro-heroin?
Yeah. I’m pinging the boss to see if he’ll take out the trash here, or if he will tolerate this.
Thank you.
So that's a vote for the United States of America to emulate a repressive regime. Me, I'll stick with our Founders' vision of limited government.
You don’t believe that punitive measures are reasonably effective in preventing drug use?
BS, epic BS.
The punitive measures I would have faced had I been found to be using drugs kept me in line and for the threat imposed, I’m grateful that I haven’t ended up like some dope addled libertopian...
Nobody's promoting heroin, liar.
” No reason there to think I’d profit from legalization (”
Who ever mentioned this? You know I didn’t. Try something else.
The punitive measures I would have faced had I been found to be using drugs kept me in line
And without those measures, you'd have used heroin despite its inherent dangers? That's mighty stupid - you couldn't pay me enough to mess with that sh*t.
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