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August 2, 2023
"The 'New' Drug War"
The title of this post is the title of this notable new paper authored by Jennifer Oliva and Taleed El-Sabawi. Here is its abstract:
American policymakers have long waged a costly, punitive, racist, and ineffective drug war that casts certain drug use as immoral and those that engage in it as deviant criminals. The War on Drugs has been defined by a myopic focus on controlling the supply of drugs that are labeled as dangerous and addictive. The decisions as to which drugs fall within these categories have neither been made by health agencies nor based on scientific evidence. Instead, law enforcement agencies have been at the helm of the drug war advocating for and enforcing prohibition.
The drug war has been a failure on all counts. American taxpayers have invested trillions of dollars in the war, yet the United States continues to witness record-setting numbers of drug overdose deaths every year. The drug war has been used as a tool to disenfranchise and incarcerate generations of individuals minoritized as Black. Black Americans are nearly six times more likely to be incarcerated for drug-related offenses than their white counterparts, notwithstanding that substance use rates are comparable across those populations.
The public rhetoric concerning drug use has notably changed in recent years. Many policymakers have replaced the punitive, law and order narratives of the Old Drug War with progressive, public health-oriented language, which suggests that the Old Drug War has ended. We, however, caution against such a conclusion. This paper examines three categories of laws and policies that attend to individuals who use drugs under our country’s new, and purportedly public health-centric, approach: (1) laws that increase surveillance of certain drugs or those who use them; (2) the criminalization and civil punishment of the symptoms or behaviors related to drug use; and (3) laws that decrease access to treatment and harm reduction programs.
Our assessment of these policies demonstrates that the War on Drugs is not over. It has merely been retooled, recalibrated, and reframed. The “New” Drug War may be concealed with public health-promoting rhetoric, but it is largely an insidious re-entrenchment of the country’s longstanding, punitive approach to drug use.
August 2, 2023 at 09:52 PM | Permalink
Comments
"American policymakers have long waged a costly, punitive, racist, and ineffective drug war that casts certain drug use as immoral and those that engage in it as deviant criminals. The War on Drugs has been defined by a myopic focus on controlling the supply of drugs that are labeled as dangerous and addictive."
These first two sentences of sophomoric, flaming language let you know that it's just the same ideological screed we've seen a zillion times.
These guys should change their word processor every few years.
Posted by: Bill Otis | Aug 3, 2023 5:53:40 PM
The 'New' Drug War" right brother
Posted by: Insight Adda | Aug 4, 2023 7:08:24 AM
Right Brother
Posted by: Insight Adda | Aug 4, 2023 7:08:59 AM
I don't use illegal drugs. But I believe that not a single drug should be illegal. Why have we Americans allowed some (old) assholes to tell everyone what we may and may not put into our own bodies? It seems crazy to me. How can we even fantasize that our country is "free" when that is allowed and accepted?
I'm not drug policy scholar for sure. But I'm sure that I'd prefer to live in a free country that does not put people in cages for whatever they decide to ingest. I have to believe that America would be a lot better off if no drug were illegal and a tiny fraction of the money that is currently used to endlessly harass people were used instead to help.
It also seems to me that American governments are the cause of the drug violence. They are the creators of drug gangs and warfare.
American governments are way too big and I'm over them.
Posted by: Will Allen | Aug 4, 2023 11:15:58 PM
Will Allen --
"I don't use illegal drugs. But I believe that not a single drug should be illegal."
Please, please, please get signed up as Joe Biden's drug policy campaign advisor and make sure his ads feature this frequently and loudly.
Posted by: Bill Otis | Aug 6, 2023 2:26:25 PM
I think that message will resonate with more and more people. So many people are getting tired of giant, giant, giant, out-of-control GIANT government focusing so much of our actually limited resources on harassing people who live in America. Personally, I'd prefer to stop paying government to harass my family. I'd like them to f*ck right off.
People are getting tired of it. We need the dinosaurs in government who grew up thinking they should live under governments' thumbs to die off. We need for evolution to occur. Then we need to keep the fascist control freaks out.
America could be a free country for once in its history.
Posted by: Will Allen | Aug 6, 2023 2:33:40 PM
Will Allen --
No, people are not getting tired of the drug war. To the exact contrary, the left wing Huffington Post poll shows that massive majorities want hard drugs kept illegal. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/drug-legalization-poll_n_5162357
Of course, since you think drugs are so wonderful, I assume you've started your teenagers on heroin. I mean you have, right?
Posted by: Bill Otis | Aug 6, 2023 5:54:34 PM
"massive majorities want hard drugs kept illegal"
I believe that. But since when have Americans had any sense or been moral? In the entire world, are there any people who are more uninformed, self-righteous, self-entitled assholes who are more right about anything and everything than Americans? You can walk down any street you want and talk to a hundred people who are truly clueless yet know everything about anything.
And the big government criminals have done a great job with their incessant propaganda as well. If we didn't have government keeping illegal drugs in check then probably all of America would be dead. They love their "drug war" game. So many benefits for so much government.
So many Americans must be fed their "opinions". They really have to belong, be PC, and say what is right. It's risky to step out.
I'm glad you brought up my children though. Guess who did nothing to stop them from using drugs? Government. Guess who did?
Further, if one of my children was trying to decide if he/she should use whatever drug (heroin, weed, alcohol), none of that decision belongs to YOU. None of it belongs to my neighbors. Or to government. It belongs to me and their mother. And then when they are old enough, it belongs to them.
Long story short - you people really need to try to learn how to mind your own business. Take care of your own families. Stop harassing others. Stop growing big government. We have enough BS laws.
I'd also like to point out that your Drug War isn't going so well. If you dumped a pile more resources into it do you think it could go worse? Probably.
There is a reason that so many people are dying on the streets now. The reason is government and their response. Government is the reason that there are drugs on the street with Fentanyl and whatever else in them. Government is the reason for the danger. All the violence.
Lastly, I didn't say drugs are awesome. But if I wanted to use them, I sure as hell would. In fact, I love doing things that government supposedly doesn't want me to do. I get great satisfaction from it. They are fascists that deserve it shoved up their asses.
Posted by: Will Allen | Aug 6, 2023 6:28:40 PM
Will Allen --
"But since when have Americans had any sense or been moral? In the entire world, are there any people who are more uninformed, self-righteous, self-entitled assholes who are more right about anything and everything than Americans? You can walk down any street you want and talk to a hundred people who are truly clueless yet know everything about anything."
The real feelings of the drug legalizer side come out. Thank you! Keep posting, please!!
"Lastly, I didn't say drugs are awesome. But if I wanted to use them, I sure as hell would. In fact, I love doing things that government supposedly doesn't want me to do. I get great satisfaction from it. They are fascists that deserve it shoved up their asses."
Do you love robbing banks? Do you love selling nuclear secrets to Iran? Do you love having sex with five year-olds? Do you love swindling old people out of their savings? Do you love doing smash-and-grab at the jewelry store?
Those are some things the big, bad government doesn't want you to do. How much "satisfaction," exactly, do you think they would give you?
And don't hand me this stuff about "victimless crimes." When you sell fentanyl to a 14 year-old, that crime has a victim and may soon have a corpse. Not that you would care.
Posted by: Bill Otis | Aug 7, 2023 7:59:50 AM
Did I say anything inaccurate about Americans? Exactly when do you think they fixed themselves? Right after they stopped segregating people based on their color? Americans are still today supporting government implemented, country-wide harassment that is stupid, fact-less, immoral, and egregious. But I won't get into that to avoid getting off subject.
I haven't thought in great detail about what kind of anti-government activities bring me satisfaction. There are plenty of them, but not anything that hurts other people. So your whole list isn't very good and is probably nothing more than projecting nonsense.
What's this about "victimless crimes"? Nothing about drugs should be a crime so I don't know what you are talking about. I mean, I guess we should treat all drugs like we do some drugs, like alcohol and cigarettes, and not allow direct sale to minors. I'm not concerned about those details. What I know for sure is that you, government, and everyone else have no business telling an adult what he or she may ingest. No business at all.
Do you know why Fentanyl is showing up in drugs on streets? Government. If government wasn't running a drug business then drugs wouldn't be sold on the streets. They would be sold by reputable vendors (e.g. AB InBev).
Governments' drug businesses have killed more people and children than legalized drugs ever would. The street danger is just one aspect. You'd have to add in the drug gangs and all that too. All because of government. And do they even want to reduce drug use? That would put them out of business. Given their results it is hard to believe that they want to stop their drug games. The people who want to use drugs are using them. People are dying like flies too.
Posted by: Will Allen | Aug 7, 2023 2:28:58 PM
