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Tajikistan is a country that you might have to look at a map to locate, it's a small country situated on the Afghan northern border. A landlocked country, 90 percent of Tajikistan's surface is covered by mountains; with Kyrgyzstan to the North, China to the east, Afghanistan and Pakistan to the South, and Uzbekistan to the west. Tajikistan suffered severely from a bloody civil war from 1992-97, creating a vacuum where conditions were perfect for lawlessness to fester; a perfect trade route to export Afghan opium for heroin production around the world. The ultimate goal for drug traffickers in Afghanistan is to transport their drugs to Russia and then on to the Western European markets. Traffickers have found a better route than Tajikistan for moving their product - Iran has become the channel to move the world's heroin. Russia, with a population of 142 million, is a large market for Afghan heroin and is a key stop in the bridging of Afghanistan with the European drug market.
An increase in stability has developed in Northern Afghanistan, making it very difficult to smuggle drugs into Tajikistan finding alternative routes is the natural course when ever obstructed. "The amount of drugs seized (in Tajikistan) in 2009 is noticeably smaller than in 2008", said Rustam Nazarov to Reuters, who is the head of Tajikistan's state Drug Control Agency, adding that some 4.5 tons of illicit drugs were intercepted in 2009. Afghanistan produces more opium than any other country and the world has a vested interest in stopping the flow of traffic; Tajikistan claims that they seize two-thirds of the drugs moving through the country; however, the number is believed to be much lower - around one-tenth of all the opium being smuggled is seized.
The United States and several other NATO allies have been trying to urge Afghani farmers to grow other cash crops like wheat. A very difficult task when you factor how long the farmers in that region have been cultivating opium poppies. "Last year, the United States spent about $300 million on agriculture projects there and projected spending this year is more than $425 million, not including separate funds from U.S. military coffers handed out by troops in the field", reports Reuters. A lot of money but will it be enough to stop the flow?
At the end of the day you would think that one country is happier, Tajikistan; the less smuggling that occurs would create more stability. The new U.S. funded Tajik-Afghan bridge makes Tajikistan still a viable trafficking option even if the amount crossing the border is reduced, heroin will still find its way to Russia via Tajikistan. Unfortunately, the stability of the entire region is contingent upon Afghanistan and their opium production. "Unfortunately the drugs situation in our country and the region as a whole solely depends on the situation in Afghanistan," Nazarov said to Reuters. "Only when there is law and order in Afghanistan there will be law and order in our country."
The world is beginning to look at drugs in a new way; we rest at the precipice of a revolution in drug legislation. More countries than ever are in agreement that the war on drugs has been a total failure creating an unstoppable monster. There is no question as to whether or not drugs play a huge role in the destruction of lives; the way in which drug offenders are policed and treated like second class citizens plays an even more devastating part. The best defense against drug addiction is education and the best defense against traffickers is less demand. Heavy fines and imprisonment only throw fuel on an already out of control fire. The argument that drugs are bad for you and that punishment is the only solution is not holding as much water as it once did. Countries around the world are focusing less on policing drug use; more emphasis is being placed on regulation and education.
Basically, it works like this: the illegal nature of drugs has caused the price of drugs to increase to the point where an addict needs to be rich to afford their addiction, addicts are forced to commit criminal acts like robbery and prostitution in order to compensate for their lack of inheritance, addicts break the law while getting high and they break the law while acquiring the money to afford the high. It's a vicious circle that usually ends tragically; the war on drugs has created a vacuum that traps addicts into a life where the only option is death or jail. I read an interesting article by Chris Middendorp who writes for the Sydney Morning Herald. Dealing with the subject, he made a good point: this is not about morals or laws, but, the overall welfare of human beings that should be the focus. "In several Latin American countries and in mainland Europe, legislators have already brought about significant reforms in drug policy in recent times. This has not involved an open-slather legalisation of drugs, but the decriminalisation of personal possession and use. Most famously, in 2001 Portugal decriminalised all drugs - from heroin to cocaine - and, to many people's surprise, overall drug use actually fell. In Switzerland, giving addicts free heroin in supervised clinics has been deemed a success, with begging, prostitution, homelessness and burglary all dropping dramatically. A national referendum in 2008 voted overwhelmingly to retain the program, which began as a trial in 1994".
America is on the verge of joining the mindset that the drugs are not the problem - we are. If money that was spent on policing drugs was diverted towards regulation and education it would be a big step forward. Not to mention that that is the only way we will ever deal a severe blow upon the drug cartels. Obama realizes that the war on drugs has been a failure and that we need to handle this differently; this could change everything, for years the USA has set many trends worldwide as far as a zero tolerance on drugs goes. If the United States takes a different route than many other countries would follow.
Parents in New York City and in other areas around the country have begun to drug test their kids. Home drug tests can be found at any pharmacy in the United States for a reasonable price. Discovering that there is a drug problem early can make a huge difference regarding how severe a drug problem gets. The quicker the problem is recognized the sooner it can be addressed; many drug addicts go undetected, by the time a problem is realized the addiction has gone completely out of control. It is for this reason that there are many adolescent drug treatment facilities available for parents to consider sending their children to for treatment.
Teenage years are the most critical years, the more drugs that are consumed in those years means the more developmental damage done. Parents suspecting their children of using drugs should test their kids; it could be that test that saves their life. In some places you can even get home drug tests for free from the police. ABC News reports, "Heroin is an epidemic here in Suffolk County [Long Island]," Sheriff Vincent DeMarco said. "I see the pain in parents' eyes. They're looking for something to combat their children's drug use". On Nov. 19, Suffolk County announced that it had purchased 16,000 drug testing kits, available for free for parents who want to test their children. The kits use litmus paper to test urine for six different drugs including methamphetamine, marijuana, heroin, Vicodin and Xanax. Since the program started parents have picked up nearly 450 of them".
It's never too early to intervene, but, sometimes it's too late. Your kids may think you're over parenting, that's simply not true; you are protecting your child's life. I encourage you to watch the Dr. Nancy Video dealing with this subject:
"Dec. 1: As drug testing for children gains in popularity nationwide, some parents in New York City are getting free at-home kits from the police. Are the testing kits really the best way to prevent drug use in kids?"
It appears that the United States has become much more permissive of illegal drug use unlike never before. Many people are confused, and are asking, "are addictive drugs legal in America?"Across the world jails are filled to the max, economies have gone into recession, and a war on drugs with no end in sight continues to be fought. In the United States, the Obama administration has recently announced that registered cannabis dispensaries will no longer be raided by federal authorities; this is a pretty big deal considering that Marijuana is still classified as an illegal drug. Just about anywhere you go in the western United States you can see the marijuana trend exploding; more and more states are accepting or considering Marijuana as a legitimate medicine. The hope is that relaxed marijuana laws in the U.S. will have a heavy toll on the Mexican cartels. Cartels make most of their money from trafficking and selling marijuana.
The trend is happening all over the world, countries are not looking at drugs in the same way they once did. Governments are relaxing their laws regarding many different substances. The Economists reports that, "from heroin 'shooting galleries' in Vancouver to Mexico's decriminalization of personal possession of drugs, the Americas are suddenly looking more permissive. Meanwhile in Europe, where drugs policy is generally less stringent, seven countries have decriminalized drug possession, and the rest are increasingly ignoring their supposedly harsh regimes. Is the 'war on drugs' becoming a fiction?" This goes beyond just medical marijuana; many states are considering full on legalization of marijuana and are having serious discussions about it.
It appears to be a new era all over the world regarding the war on drugs. I have to wonder if we are being too hasty, many countries are trying to determine how all narcotics from cannabis to crack can be regulated. There needs to be a limit to all the legalization talk and we need to remember that drugs ruin people's lives and if they are not monitored appropriately then there will be chaos. There is certainly a problem with drug policy throughout the world, but, how we alter those policies needs to be done carefully.
New studies into treating heroin have been taking place in Europe, especially in England where addiction specialists are realizing that it may be more beneficial for hard-to-treat addicts to be treated with the drug they are addicted to. Controversial to say the least, the study's findings have been quite shocking; it is a real possibility that heroin clinics will be set up throughout England to manage heroin addicts? Treating drug addicts with heroin, the addict's drug of choice, without a doubt should be a last resort choice. It seems relevant to point out that the study being performed in England benefits society much more than it benefits the addicts. The addicts who are being injected by government clinicians are still caught in the grips of addiction and it seems unlikely that they will become contributing members of society.
The study found that the use of street heroin was cut by three quarters and the crimes committed to get drugs were slashed by two-thirds. Great Britain decided that the cost of $22,000 per patient per year to provide, addicts who had failed at other forms of treatment, heroin was a wiser alternative to having addicts running the streets committing crimes to get their fix. The cost to imprison heroin addicts is almost 3 times more a year than supplying heroin in government run clinics. The streets are safer and the drug is administered in a more sanitary environment which cuts down on disease. John Strang, led the research team involved in this study at Britain's National Addiction Centre, associated with King's College in London. "Strang said the stubborn nature of heroin addiction is proof that getting addicts into treatment is really a shallow achievement, because many will eventually turn to drugs again. He believes this promising approach could change the way hard-to-treat addicts are treated and convince the government that the initial high cost offers good value", reported CNN.
This experiment is by no means the best way to help addicts become productive members of society. Providing heroin to addicts may cut down on crime and the amount spent annually to imprison such addicts; however, the likelihood that addicts high on heroin will be able to manage their lives while high is very small. Sure, the streets are safer but people are still shackled by their addiction and will never be relieved of the bondage if the government agrees to get people high year-round for free. Many of the most hardened drug addicts have managed to find sobriety and continue to maintain it without drug maintenance programs like methadone or Suboxone. Those individuals that are unwilling to surrender and ask for guidance will never find freedom form the disease of addiction.
The world has been suffering from the black cloud of heroin for a very long time. It seems like every day a new story comes to light regarding the problem of heroin throughout the world. It turns out that Russia has now found themselves in the grips of a heroin epidemic which is fueled by the vast poppy fields in Afghanistan. Viktor P. Ivanov, the top drug enforcement official in Russia, has been pleading for American support with this problem, especially since the Obama administration has decided to pull back on Poppy eradication in Afghanistan. Bush had begun the manual eradication process with very little success, shortly after the war started. Obama would like to interdict opium supplies and show them how to cultivate alternative crops, but, unfortunately there has been very little progress made. Russia believes that the Afghan heroin is a global security risk that needs to be addressed jointly by the two super powers.
Ivanov is the head of the federal drug control service and a trusted adviser to Prime Minister Putin. His belief, according to the New York Times, is that, "eradication programs had failed in Afghanistan because they were too weak, and that the United States should apply the more muscular methods it used recently in Colombia, where vast coca fields were sprayed aerially with the herbicide glyphosate". Aerial herbicides are certainly the most effective way to eradicate a crop, but, there are many critics who say that this tactic will put many farmers out of work and force them towards terrorist organizations. Ironically, it is those same poppy fields that fund most of those organizations that the U.S. is at war with; which is the lesser of two evils, strength in numbers or strength in funding? "Afghanistan is seen as a crucial area of cooperation for the United States and Russia, in large part because of Russia’s crippling heroin problem. The authorities here estimate that 30,000 young Russians die every year from drug use. Mr. Ivanov said that 90 percent of Russian addicts used Afghan heroin, which flows into the country freely over the "virtual borders” it shares with central Asian neighbors", reports the NYT. Ivanov's proposal is that the United States eradicate the poppy fields, then channel some of their anti-drug campaign money to plant wheat in the Afghan fields.
I find myself sympathetic towards Ivanov's cause and I believe that this is a global problem which needs a global answer. Afghanistan has very little control of their country as is evident by the Taliban stronghold; furthermore, they have no control over the production of Opium and many countries are suffering as a result. Afghanistan needed the worlds help to remove the insurgencies, it stands to reason they will need help eradicating this very serious heroin problem. It's a real "Catch 22"! We cannot ignore this anymore than Russia can and I believe cooperation is necessary if a solution is going to be found. Neither, Afghanistan, nor the United States agree with aerial eradication at this point in time; they believe the effects will cripple the country more than it will help. While Afghanistan worries about where it would be without Poppys, the world is trying to figure out how to keep heroin out of their own countries.
A new law was passed on Thursday, August, 20, 2009, decriminalizing small amounts of drugs for personal use in Mexico. The drugs that fall under this new act include: marijuana, cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine, and even LSD; the only requirement is that the amounts be under a certain weight that has been agreed upon by the Mexican government. According to the Associated Press "Mexican authorities said the change only recognized the longstanding practice here of not prosecuting people caught with small amounts of drugs". If a person is caught with drug amounts falling under the set limit they will be encouraged by authorities to seek treatment; however if caught a third time treatment will then be mandatory even though Mexico has not stated any penalties for noncompliance. Mexico legalizing drug possession raises some very serious questions considering that they are currently in the grips of a serious drug war as we speak. If the government is supposedly trying to stop the cartels from producing and distributing drugs, it seems counterproductive that they would legalize the cartels main source of income.
The new drug law went into effect on Friday, August 21, 2009, and will set "the maximum amount of marijuana considered to be for “personal use” under the new law at 5 grams — the equivalent of about four marijuana cigarettes. Other limits are half a gram of cocaine, 50 milligrams of heroin, 40 milligrams for methamphetamine and 0.015 milligrams of LSD". It took several months before before President Felipe Calderón would approve this new law. What kind of message is he trying to send to the world by doing this? A mixed message certainly, and one that can only have a devastating effect on Mexicans as well as Americans who travel to Mexico. If they could not enforce laws before they became legal how do they propose to do it after the fact? There is no way that this new law that sets limits on the amount one can be caught with will have any sway on the mind of a drug addict.
Prescription drugs are killing American teens at an alarming rate and no one seems to understand why this is happening. People are becoming addicted more to the prescribed medicine than llegal drugs for multiple reasons. First, most doctors do not fully understand the disease model of addiction; nor do they thoroughly check a patient's background before prescribing drugs that have addictive qualities. Unfortunately, the effects and side-effects of Adderall and Oxycontin are only slightly different than their "street" counterparts, Methamphetamine and Heroin. Sadly, obtaining Adderall and Oxycontin is much easier than their illegal "brothers". As long as doctors continue to prescribe these medicines without understanding that most of these prescription narcotics are going to be abused, then America's youth and young adults will continue to overdose.
Doctors are not the only problem with the prescription drug epidemic because one can acquire prescription narcotics from just about every household in America. Parents are not always fully informed about the contents of their medicine cabinet. In most communities the youth of America receives a crash course on prescription drugs upon entering middle-school with DARE and by the time they reach high-school the damage might be already done. DARE in many ways can draw a curious child closer to drugs, as opposed to discouraging interest. And a curious child in a sea of drugs (the home medicine cabinet) is bound to experiment.
In my eyes, in today's America, the biggest drug pushers may likely be medical doctors. Why hit the streets for drugs when you can go to your family doctor? I will reiterate what I have said in previous posts: Without serious reform in our health care system this problem will continue. I am not sure what the solution to this problem is and how we work towards it, but, my opinion is that we need to educate our youth more about the serious dangers that accompany prescription medication.
Here is a NBC Nightly News video that talks about this problem in one county in America. Watch and let me know what you think.
P.S.S. Mark your calendar to watch A & E's Intervention on Monday evening, July 13. Hope by the Sea will be the featured treatment center. (Check your local listings)
