By Taylor Boggs ’16, Perspectives Section Editor
Over the last decade, there has been a growing consensus among American citizens that the decades-long War on Drugs has been nothing but expensive, and that if its goal was to reduce the number of illicit drug users in the United States, it has utterly and completely failed. Drug abuse and deaths from overdose have been on a continual rise for more than 50 years. Each day, 7,000 people are treated in emergency rooms for drug abuse and 44 people die from prescription overdose in the United States. Overdose records were reached and surpassed in 2014 and 2015: from 2001 to 2014, there has been a threefold increase in the use of opiates, fivefold in the use of prescription drugs, and sixfold in the use of heroin. Despite differences in how to tackle drug abuse in the U.S., Republicans and Democrats alike agree that this is a, as Hillary Clinton said, a “quiet epidemic” that is slowly affecting everyone in our country: many believe that the problem has been severely underestimated nationwide.
Throughout the political race, many politicians, especially on the republican side, have been more personal when speaking out about their experiences with drug abuse. Former Governor Jeb Bush of Florida has experienced drug addiction through his daughter Noelle, former chief-executive of Hewlett-Packard Carly Fiorina lost her son in law to overdose, and Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey lost a law school friend from overdose as well. Likewise, Senator Ted Cruz has discussed his parents’ struggle with alcohol, and many other candidates have commented on drug abuse and addiction. So why has this all of the sudden become so popular, despite the fact that statistics have shown an increase in drug-induced deaths for years?
First off, many statistics on drug overdose have rapidly increased causing major uproar. For example, in New Hampshire, the number of deaths by overdose has doubled in the past two years alone. And this is not the only state. More significant, however, is the fact that the drug problem is no longer affecting only poor and minority members of society—it is affecting large, well-off, white communities. It is no longer an exclusive problem that does not directly affect us, thus finally bringing the scope and danger of the problem into the spotlight. Governor John Kasich commented, “Now it’s in our communities, and now all of a sudden we’ve got forums, and God bless us, but think about the struggles that other people had [before we realized the problem].” During the campaign trail, Republicans have been more lenient in the way of the strict rhetoric of “say no to drugs policy” of politicians decades ago. In fact, there has been much more empathy and less scolding in regards to drug usage. Whether or not this is to gain voters, the candidates have shown that overreacting to illegal drug use is not the way to solve the problem, and they are taking a softer approach through personal stories in an attempt to stop and cure this disease.
The foundation of Democrats’ drug platform includes equality of sentencing, stopping organized illegal trafficking, and drug education. One of the party’s biggest concerns is the consideration of race while sentencing drug crimes. To fix this, they hope to put more just-minded people on the stand to judge based on evidence alone. Another big aspect of the democratic drug platform is working with foreign powers to decrease the illegal trafficking and gangs coming into this country—they want to stop all organized crime networks trying to use the Caribbean to smuggle drugs into the U.S. That being said, the party mainly agrees that equal force and blame should be placed on domestic and foreign culprits, and that all conditions should be met in agreement with the foreign countries. The third branch of the platform is to bring more drug education to schools and the nation’s youth, as well as manage better treatment options and make more treatment readily available to those who need it. The fourth, and possibly most important aspect of the platform, is that the party hopes to implement more drug courts in order to receive faster rulings on drug related crimes and to stop filling the nation’s prisons with non-violent offenders who should not be in jail in the first place. Democratic front-runners, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, have views along very similar lines. Clinton supports more drug courts, believes that people should overcome addiction through treatment rather than strict sentencing, and supports more drug diversion such as the use of medical and recreation marijuana. Senator Sanders is completely for legalizing drugs for recreational use and does not support any type of border control to battle drugs.
On the other side of the isle, Republicans tend to be more strict and direct in their no-drug policies. Many Republicans believe that adults have the biggest responsibility: they must teach their children about the dangers of drugs. Drug use must be prohibited in schools, and this must be enforced, but drug treatment must also be available in schools to support those who need help. The party believes that stronger treatment options as well as stronger enforcement and stricter deferral regulations are essential to stopping the increased use of illegal drugs. Unlike Democrats, Republicans tend to agree that jail time and heavy, yet fair, enforcement serves as a deterrent for people to stop using drugs, and hopefully to never start. But again, they believe that those seeking help, those who want to make themselves better, deserve to have good treatment. Similarly, the party is of the opinion that prosecutors should actively pursue drug traffickers. Republican front-runner Donald Trump is strongly against illegal drug use, supports stricter sentencing, and supports stricter border control to diminish the possibility of illegal traffickers bringing substances across the border. Senator Cruz is more of the opinion that we should lower minimums and mandatory sentencing, but still educate on the dangers of drug use.
Both sides are in agreement that rehabilitation should be present in the prison system and that once a criminal can prove that they have become clean and can stay clean once out, they should be allowed to reenter the community. However, regardless of what either side thinks is the best way to solve the problem, the public needs to realize that this is no longer a simple fact of life that we can overlook—it is affecting us all and is a serious danger. Today, marijuana is the most commonly used illicit drug, and most people use drugs for the first time when they are teenagers. More often, teenagers do not realize the consequences that come with experimenting without knowing what they are doing. It easier said than done to just “say no” to drugs in this day in age, but one must seriously consider the repercussions. The last few years, Ohio, our own community, has been one of the leading states in the nation in the amount of overdose deaths from opiates, heroin, prescription drugs, and others. While many may think that marijuana does not fall into that list, it does. And regardless of the numbers, every drug has side effects and they can and will affect you.
We need to remember that every life is precious. Today the Affordable Care Act requires health insurance companies to cover any treatment for substance abuse, but this is only a small step in the right directions. This epidemic will not be easily solved, but working together, we can cure addiction.
“With this epidemic, it’s crossed every boundary. It’s young to old, rich to poor, white to black. I tell them, ‘if it hasn’t affected you yet, just wait. It will.’” – Manchester Mayor Gatas
Sources:
http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/the-personal-politics-drug-addiction
http://www.republicanviews.org/democratic-views-on-drugs/
http://www.republicanviews.org/republican-views-on-drugs/
http://www.ontheissues.org/Drugs.htm
http://www.odp.idaho.gov/facts/TruthsFactSheet2015.pdf
Image Source:
http://hereshelpinc.com/drug-abuse-in-teens/
