Good-Bye 2011

Farewell to the Year 2011.  Sadly, addiction related suffering and death continued, seemingly unabated, over the past 12 months.  During this year, I became -- more than ever -- convinced that the response to this plague is essentially misdirected.  The notion that drug prosecution and interdiction efforts will solve the problem is, in my opinion, misguided. 
I have watched the efforts in my community since the late 1970's.  What I have seen is a steady increase in the strength and quantity of drugs available to those enslaved to their misuse.  This has been accompanied by a corresponding increase in the magnitude of efforts by law enforcement, using newer and better techniques and technology.  Consequently, those engaging in the drug distribution business have improved their skills,
gone deeper underground and improved their own skills and methods.  It should, by this time, have become understood that certain laws of business and science are applicable to the drug world.  For one, the concept of 'supply and demand' teaches that if there is a demand, there will be an effort to provide a supply (at a price agreeable to both sides).  In the drug trade the suppliers and consumers have agreed that the costs, in addition to the monetary price, includes the risks of arrest and prosecution, possible incarceration and the multitude of damages caused by the abuse on the part of the customer, as well as the collateral impact on individuals and communities on the periphery of the transaction.  From the scientific side, note the axiom that 'nature abhors a vacuum.'  For a variety of reasons, folks who abuse drugs find themselves doing it in an apparent effort to fill some kind of void inside.  As air rushes in to occupy the emptiness in the evacuated container, drugs provide a way to occupy the void in the addict's life.  The same maxim applies to the removal of a drug dealer from the market place, creating a vacuum which is filled by one, or maybe more than on, replacement.  Just as we can't twiddle with the fundamentals of economics or physics and have any results, it seems reasonable to me that the law enforcement efforts on the sidelines of the drug world will continue to have little positive impact.
Meanwhile, on other fronts, there continues to be an effort to remove the addicts' demand through an array of treatment programs. The operations engaged in such work use a variety of approaches -- with varying degrees of success.  I am holding my breath as I wait to see if several individuals who have gone through some of these programs will be able to remain drug-free for the long term.  My hopes are that they will.  If that is the case, then these trailblazing programs deserve a closer look and more support. 
As 2011 passes into the pages of history, my hope is that a better approach will come to bear on this problem.