Criminalizing Drug Users Is Killing People

[ProSense]

Criminalizing Drug Users Is Killing People

By Chloe Cockburn

21-year-old Alysa Ivy was surrounded by people when she died of a heroin overdose...Alysa’s death was entirely preventable. In the 14 states with “Good Samaritan” laws, people who call 911 to report an overdose are immune from criminal prosecution for certain crimes associated with drug possession. Wisconsin is not one of those states, and so nobody made the phone call that could have saved Alysa’s life.

Fortunately, policymakers are starting to catch on to something that advocates, especially parents of children who have died of overdose unnecessarily, have known all along: “Saving a life is far more important than making an arrest,” White House Drug Czar and former Seattle police chief R. Gil. Kerlikowske said at a press conference on Tuesday as he urged states and local communities to pass Good Samaritan laws.

These laws matter. More than 38,000 people died from a drug overdose in 2012. Deaths from drug overdose have been rising steadily over the past two decades and have become the leading cause of accidental death in the United States. The pervasive and well-founded fear that a person will suffer heavy criminal penalties if they call an ambulance to help someone overdosing is killing people.

So Mr. Kerlikowske’s statement is a big deal. It cuts against the messaging that has been dominating for decades: government policies that push hard in the direction of calling for enforcement as the cure to drug problems. But as cases like Ms. Ivy’s make clear, enforcement of criminal laws can often do a lot more harm than good. If our objective is to ensure that fewer people are harmed by drug use, we should emphasize and fund access to treatment and care, not focus on criminalizing those who need the help. The Affordable Care Act is a huge step forward in this regard, as it mandates health treatment for substance use disorders, providing the type of funding for treatment that Alysa Ivy’s mother could not afford.

- more -

https://www.aclu.org/blog/criminal-law-reform/criminalizing-drug-users-killing-people

[ProSense]

1. Kick! n/t

[RainDog]

2. k&r n/t

[OwnedByCats]

3. I think this law should be in effect

everywhere, especially considering people just don't know the purity of the heroin they get and that's never going to change unless we do something to help people with addictions aside from throwing them in jail. It's not always popular to say addiction is a disease, but it is. Unless one has been there, you can have no understanding of just how difficult it is. Throwing addicts in prison is not helping them. I'm not a fan of the drug war as it stands right now anyway, I just think there are more constructive ways to deal with the problem of addiction. As the article says, enforcement can do more harm than good. More sensible laws like this will save lives.

I think I read either on here or somewhere else that Obama is urging police to carry naloxone in case they are first to a call and someone has overdosed. As long as police are trained in when it's appropriate and how to properly administer, I think that could be a useful thing for them to have.

[ProSense]

7. Here:

Obama Administration Urges Cops To Help Save Lives By Treating Heroin Overdoses
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024485335

[Comrade Grumpy]

4. Good for Gil for talking about Narcan; now, let's talk about decriminalizing drug possession.

[TBF]

5. K&R nt

[hunter]

6. Why do you hate profits???

Drug addiction is a public health problem.

Criminalizing drug addiction makes the money flow.

Banks, law enforcement, prisons, gangsters... they destroy lives for money.

[indepat]

8. Since criminalizing drug users is killing people, why not advocate a sound and humane drug policy

rather than RW ideology?

[ProSense]

9. The OP policy is to save lives. n/t

[indepat]

10. Sorry, my response was out of context. The government, which codifies public policy, should adopt

a sound and humane drug policy rather than going with shop-worn RW ideology that is ravishing society.

[ProSense]

11. Yeah, there's a long way to go, but the steps are encouraging. n/t