By John O'Fee

Taking the money out of drug trafficking will take the violence out, too

Jan 28, 2019 | 10:14 AM

EDITOR’S NOTE: The following was originally written as a series of comments in response to the Jan. 25 edition of Two & Out. We have compiled the comments into a single opinion piece.

You know James, the more I think about this the more I realize that to properly address drug trafficking we have to take the money out of it. They say crime doesn’t pay… but if crime doesn’t pay, crime doesn’t happen. You notice that car stereos aren’t stolen any more? Why is that? The answer is because there is no money in stealing car stereos. So… how do we take the money out of illegal drugs?

We have to get past our outdated prejudices, recognize that these drugs quite literally re-wire our brain’s dopamine receptors and take intelligent steps to address this issue. While it may sound counter-intuitive to give a drug addict the very drugs they are addicted to… that is just a first step towards stability, which in turn can lead to treatment. The irony is that this is a very cheap thing to do and it has proven itself to be the most effective to do. The alternative of courts, hospitals, overdoses, murders, robberies, etc. is the least effective and most expensive thing we can do. People need to abandon their prejudices and look at what will actually work.

Step 1: Decriminalize (not legalize) personal possession of all drugs. Understand people possess smaller quantities of drugs due to addiction.

Step 2: Offer opiates and other drugs to addicts for free in a controlled setting. This “Agonist Intervention Therapy” costs BC about $1,000 per addict per year — a small fraction of the medical/fire/police/ambulance/court costs of a single overdose situation. People who receive clean, safe amounts of their addicted drug in a controlled setting are not spending their days begging, borrowing, stealing and robbing to feed their habit. As such, they have time to consider their situation and are much more likely to seek treatment and be successful in treatment. In addition, there is no motivation on the part of a drug dealer to get somebody addicted to something that they can subsequently get for free.

One Man's Opinion

COLLINS: North Shore BIA working hard to develop a 'happening place'

2h ago

1000 Ways to Heal

1000 Ways to Heal: Moons

Dec 10, 2024

Question of the Week

Should Mayor Reid Hamer-Jackson apologize or resign after it was found he breached a section of council's code of conduct for allowing false or misleading information to be communicated?

Dec 09, 2024

Step 3: With stable patients at a plateau of control, we can then start working or offering step down treatments such as suboxone and methadone so that they can work towards getting clean and returning to more of a normal life.

I don’t arrive at this opinion by the seat of my pants. I was a director of the Provincial Health Services Authority (we were responsible for the Insite clinic). The data is compelling.

——

Editor’s Note: This opinion piece reflects the views of its author, and does not necessarily represent the views of CFJC Today or the Jim Pattison Broadcast Group.