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

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.

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.”

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.

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.

“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.

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.

Go back and read my original post. Those were statements I have heard from addicts, from druggies. Maybe you should engage in conversation with them. That's the sort of crap they spew.

I have heard it firsthand. Dealt with the mentality. There is no arguing with a druggie, they aren't going to look at facts, they won't sit down and compare research notes, and that was my point. That is how they justify their own particular form(s) of substance abuse.

Reason isn't involved, it's rationalization, and humans can rationalize anything from theft to slaughtering babies in the womb to more open forms of genocide.

And narrow the goalposts, because we're not just talking about pot, here, but meth, heroin, Molly, bath salts, hell, pick one. Because of that crap, I have raised grandchildren rather than put money away for a retirement I will not live to see, barring a lucky powerball ticket.

If they won't listen, they won't, not even standing next to the hole their 'friends' who OD'd are going into. Talk your lungs out. Those who will hear will, those who won't, won't. They'll chalk it up to bad luck or a stupid mistake (that they won't make, of course), anything but the drugs. Alcoholics are often the same way.

As I recall, the main character was barely getting by working two jobs, one well beneath his abilities, and went for the bigger payday; other than that bigger payday, which is a simple matter of fact and IMO not a "glorification,"

For an awful lot of people, that 'bigger payday' amounts to an attractive option. Beyond that is the matter of imagery (more powerful than reading the script), of the emotions evoked, of being powerful, rich, having all the stuff you want...That's glorification in my book, especially for the uneducated and those without vision or skills enough to better their lot. Money is a powerful draw, and the local power it can buy is just as seductive. I guess your book isn't the same edition as mine.

Those were statements I have heard from addicts, from druggies. [...] we're not just talking about pot, here

Neither point was clarified by your statement, "That it is just like or no worse than alcohol? The pro-pot lobby [not other drugs and not just users] has worn that angle out." Certainly there are drugs that are worse than alcohol (and heroin is one of them).

Those who will hear will, those who won't, won't.

Agreed; it's impossible to inform the latter ... but the former do exist.

being powerful, rich, having all the stuff you want...That's glorification in my book

Of selling, but certainly not of using, which was the original topic.

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