And Marijuana is the drug that comes up the most in many localities according to a recent federal study. The feds are claiming this fact means we need to “divert” more arrestees to drug treatment, but unwilling participants in a program won’t reap the benefits of sobriety. People will stop using when they’re ready to stop using, which usually means they have to hit rock bottom.
Frankly nothing says rock bottom like a bid in the joint.
Otherwise though the study illustrates the point I often make, that pot smokers are NO DIFFERENT from any other user or addict, including alcoholics. Pot doesn’t magically make you kinder, calmer and wiser, it gets you high and high people are a danger to themselves and those around them. At the very least the dedicated pothead is like the alcoholic, a drain on those around them that spend their time propping him or her up while thy dwell in perpetual adolescence.
Read it and weep hippies:
Half of the men arrested in 10 U.S. cities test positive for some type of illegal drug, a federal study found.
Not only do the findings show “a clear link between drugs and crime,” they also highlight the need to provide drug treatment, says Gil Kerlikowske, director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, which will make the data public Thursday.
Assessing offenders for drug and mental health problems and providing treatment is “important if you want to stop recidivism and recycling people through the system,” says Kerlikowske, who supports drug courts that offer court-ordered drug treatment.
“There’s an opportunity when someone is arrested to divert them to treatment if they need it,” says Bill Piper, director of national affairs for the Drug Policy Alliance Network, a group that supports legalizing marijuana and treating drug use as a public health issue. “But people shouldn’t have to get arrested to get treatment.”
I’m not sure about all that. When we say alcoholism or addiction is a disease or illness we’re using a metaphor to equip addicts with what is often a psychological and emotional struggle to ween themselves off of a crutch they’ve used to keep reality at a distance. Addicts need to accept responsibility for themselves, including their recovery which is why diversion programs aren’t going to work on many, but like I said a few years in the joint will.
Here’s an interesting fact from the study:
In 2008 researchers interviewed and obtained urine samples from 3,924 men arrested in 10 metropolitan areas: Atlanta, Charlotte, Chicago, Denver, Indianapolis, Minneapolis, New York, Portland, Ore., Sacramento and Washington, D.C.
In Chicago, 87% tested positive for drug use and in Sacramento, 78% tested positive. Many of the men — 40% in Chicago and 29% in Sacramento — tested positive for more than one drug.
Marijuana is the most common drug in every city where testing was done except Atlanta, where cocaine is most prevalent, the study found.
Methamphetamine use is concentrated on the west coast where 35% of the men arrested in Sacramento and 15% of the men arrested in Portland tested positive for the drug.
Heroin use is highest, at 29%, among men arrested in Chicago, an increase from 20% in 2007. Heroin use among arrestees declined in Portland, from 12% in 2007 to 8% in 2008.
Positive drug tests declined since 2007 among men arrested in Atlanta, Portland and Washington, the study found. Some of that decline can be attributed to law changes, Kerlikowske says.
Portland passed laws restricting access to ingredients needed to make methamphetamine, Kerlikowske says.
But I thought pot smokers were different than other addicts. How could this be? Is it possible that pot is indeed a gateway drug; that once you’re high on one drug it’s less likely you’ll turn down a line of this or that? Hmmm.
The article goes on to demand treatment for these poor criminals, without ever telling you exactly what crimes they were arrested for. The Office of National Drug Control Policy is coy about the criminal history of the study sample in their report (pg 27)Â but you can read through all the stats on these people’s lives and see that drug use is really a drain on those around them.
In the press release the O.N.D.C.P has this to say about pot smokers:
 Marijuana is the most commonly detected drug at the time of arrest. The percentage of arrestees testing positive for marijuana ranges from just under a third in Atlanta and Washington, D.C. to about half in Charlotte. Additionally, arrestees who are using marijuana use it frequently: in seven of the cities, marijuana users used the drug on average every other day during the past month.
That’s a lot of getting high. But since pot is “harmless” I guess that’s O.K. right?
