Dispatches from the drug war

We are losing the war on drugs.

No, not because Afghan opium poppy production is back to the levels that existed before the overthrow of the Taliban in 2001. And not because 98.2 percent of state and local law enforcement agencies nationwide recently described marijuana availability as higher than at any time since the survey has been taken. And not because Washington’s anti-drug campaign in Colombia – which has cost the United States more than $3 billion in the past five years – has been abandoned after it was proven to be utterly ineffectual.

If the mission of our government’s war on drugs was to reduce the amount of illegal drugs on the streets of America, that mission has failed. If the mission was to reduce the number of Americans who misuse legal prescription drugs, that mission has failed spectacularly. While we were busy trying to reduce the supplies of illegal marijuana, cocaine, methamphetamine and heroin coming into and being produced in this country, legal psychoactive prescription medications have arrived like a tsunami and changed the landscape of drug abuse in America forever.

Where are all these drugs coming from? Many of the clients I see with addiction problems first abused and became addicted to legally prescribed medications such as Ritalin, OxyContin, Vicodin, Adderall and others. They are typically young adults from comfortable, middle-class backgrounds who began using pills in high school. Perhaps they struggled in school. Maybe their parents were distracted by divorce. Often they were sensation seekers. The 21st century drug dealer is a teenager with a prescription bottle.

Health care increasingly relies on prescription medicines for treatment. “Direct to consumer” pharmaceutical advertising was permitted in 1997, which may have been the moment this particular war was lost. In 2000, pharmaceutical companies spent $2.5 billion on advertising and by 2004 the marketing budget for the drug makers had grown to $7.5 billion.

All this marketing seems to be working just fine for the drug companies. Sales for prescription medication in the United States alone reached $238 billion last year. For more than two decades, prescription drugs have been the most profitable industry in the country. The drug industry spends more on lobbying Washington than any other business interest does, so don’t expect your legislator to start helping consumers any time soon.

Our kids notice our self-justifying delusions regarding drug use. Alcohol is a good drug except when you’re driving or if you use too much, when people become violent and-or pathetic. Tobacco is a bad drug. People who smoke cigarettes are ruining their health, but they are allowed to because it is a free country. Heroin and cocaine are bad because they are addictive and illegal and sold by bad people. Marijuana is not addictive and Dad and Mom tried it in college, but it is illegal and therefore not really OK. Any wonder why kids just stop listening to “just say no”?

What if we told our children the truth: that anything you eat, smoke, inject, snort, watch, say, think or do that hurts anyone (including yourself) is probably not a good idea. And if you are drawn to do it again and again even though you see how it is hurting you or someone else, then you know it is a bad idea. If you can’t stop doing this thing that is hurting you or someone else, maybe you should talk to someone who can help you stop.

Perhaps the recognition that the war on drugs has been a failure might allow us to focus on treatment and recovery from addiction. What if we reallocated the money, energy and heartache that we spend on this war we are losing, and instead helped people stop hurting themselves and others? Let’s call it “A War to End Suffering.” And this time, everyone gets drafted.

Psychologist John Keefe practices in Bangor.

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