We look to our own past to examine the roots of the modern American drug war and describe contemporary reforms both within and beyond the opioid crisis.
White America has opened its eyes to the evils of the drug war at the very moment that the opioid epidemic has begun to plague rural and predominantly white communities.
First, we recall a time, before our centurylong war on drugs, when America responded to an opioid epidemic not with prohibition but with an intervention known as addiction maintenance-that is, providing drugs in amounts calibrated to maintain the well‐being of dependent persons.
Then the legal routes to the drug were cut off-and all the problems we associate with drug addiction began: criminality, prostitution, violence.
14 The idea of a drug war would likely have seemed foreign to them.15 To the contrary, doctors regarded persons suffering from drug addiction as patients deserving of treatment.
Isn't the current opioid crisis a product of a prescription market and model? Drug manufacturers pushed opioids on doctors.
136 According to a press release, "The Department will use all criminal and civil tools at its disposal to hold distributors such as pharmacies, pain management clinics, drug testing facilities, and individual physicians accountable for unlawful actions to prevent diversion and improper prescribing."137 In March 2018, the administration announced plans to cut opioid prescriptions by a third within three years, and the DEA initiated new drug‐production quotas, ultimately producing dramatic opioid shortages.
White America has opened its eyes to the evils of the drug war at the very moment that the opioid epidemic has begun to plague rural and predominantly white communities.
First, we recall a time, before our centurylong war on drugs, when America responded to an opioid epidemic not with prohibition but with an intervention known as addiction maintenance-that is, providing drugs in amounts calibrated to maintain the well‐being of dependent persons.
Then the legal routes to the drug were cut off-and all the problems we associate with drug addiction began: criminality, prostitution, violence.
14 The idea of a drug war would likely have seemed foreign to them.15 To the contrary, doctors regarded persons suffering from drug addiction as patients deserving of treatment.
Isn't the current opioid crisis a product of a prescription market and model? Drug manufacturers pushed opioids on doctors.
136 According to a press release, "The Department will use all criminal and civil tools at its disposal to hold distributors such as pharmacies, pain management clinics, drug testing facilities, and individual physicians accountable for unlawful actions to prevent diversion and improper prescribing."137 In March 2018, the administration announced plans to cut opioid prescriptions by a third within three years, and the DEA initiated new drug‐production quotas, ultimately producing dramatic opioid shortages.
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