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    A Much Needed Change: How We View and Tackle Drug Addiction

    Danay Hernandez
    By Danay Hernandez   |   Staff Editor

    President Nixon declared drug abuse “public enemy number one.” Consequently, it should be absolutely no surprise that the war on drugs has resulted in the longest and deadliest war in the United States of America. The war on drugs has stormed the world for many decades. As of today, the war on drugs has been ongoing for forty-nine years. Drug overdose deaths are expected to surpass the number of deaths related to wars combined over a 200-year span. According to the Federal Bureau of Prisons, drug offenses make up 46.2% of our mass incarceration system, which results in 67,764 inmates out of a total of 155,530 inmates. This is in the federal system alone. Clearly, the way we are currently handling the war on drugs is ineffective. Statistically, the issue is only worsening as time progresses. Up until recently, drug offenses have only been combated by criminal penalties. Nevertheless, there has been a pivotal switch in the way our community tackles this decade long war.

    Rhode Island is changing the way we tackle drugs and addiction by targeting the underlying problem. In 2016, the Rhode Island Department of Corrections introduced an opioid assistance program to provide medical assistance for those inmates who are fighting addiction. The state prison does this by screening inmates for opioid use disorder. Once screened, the Department of Corrections provides drug counseling and FDA approved addiction treatment to the inmates. The program’s objective is to reduce opioid overdose deaths in the state.

    By addressing the underlying issue surrounding drug offenses, Rhode Island is simultaneously changing the stigma around addiction. As Dr. Josiah Rich said, “it’s just ludicrous that we have a whole population of people who are by and large incarcerated because of their disease, and we have an effective medication treatment for the disease, and we don’t give it to them.” Although, medical-assisted programs currently exist in our prisons, Rhode Island became the first state to provide drug assistance using the three FDA approved drugs that treat addiction. Rhode Island has set the stage in revolutionizing our prisons and truly have our system focus on rehabilitating our inmates. As a result of Rhode Island’s initiative, 120 jails in 32 states and prison systems have added opioid treatment programs to their facilities. This program could perhaps be the start of a shift of focus in the way we punish inmates. We could focus on providing treatment while they serve their prison sentences thus resulting in lower relapse rate and repeat offending. A shift of focus would enable our prison systems to truly implement a rehabilitative system, aiming to help the offender, rather than a retributive system, intending to give the offender what they deserve.

    Ultimately, our society’s refusal to accept addiction as a medical condition must change. We view addiction as a choice a drug user makes, yet research has repeatedly concluded otherwise. Research has demonstrated that the continued use of drugs alters the way our brain functions, a clear sign of a medical condition. This denial about addiction as a disease is seen not only throughout communities but is also reflected in our justice system—where treatment is constantly avoided. Instead our justice system resolves all drug issues by criminalizing the possession of drugs.

    It is crucial that society begins to realize that addiction is a disease—one we are getting closer and closer to being able to cure. As society begins the shift to viewing addiction as a disease and not a crime, only then will we be able to implement the changes in our system that our society truly needs. Simply providing prison sentences to all drug related offenses does not prevent the offender from repeating the behavior. Instead the offender serves his or her sentence and goes into society to repeat the offense or worse, overdose.  At the end of the day, rehabilitation cannot be truly achieved if medical services are not properly provided to inmates. Fortunately, Rhode Island is venturing to change the customary and neglectful ways of our incarceration system, thus paving the way for other states to follow.

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