Peter Bensinger, a former administrator for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, was quick to take issue with the sensible view recently expressed in a recent op-ed by Steve Stefani. Stefani suggested that to fight opioid addiction, we have to stop investing in the failed war on drugs.
Drug addicts need treatment, as Bensinger rightfully pointed out, but he is badly mistaken to think that the criminalization of drug sales and possession are also deterrents.
The criminalization of drug transactions between consenting adults provided the fertile soil in which America’s drug trade has thrived. Look at the unbroken trail of drug disasters shadowing drug prohibition: the crack-cocaine epidemic of the 1980s and 1990s, the angel dust epidemic (PCP, or phencyclidine, a hallucinogen) in the nation’s capital in the 1980s, the marijuana use and potency explosion that led to its legalization and commercialization, the early 21st Century ecstasy epidemic driven by a 3,000% profit margin, and now the unlabeled opiate/fentanyl overdose epidemic.
Drug criminalization is not a deterrent; it’s the driving force behind exploded drug invention, sale, use and addiction. Prohibition feeds the gangs, drives the violence and makes healthcare unaffordable for America, where 40,000 people are killed by gun violence and 85,000 wounded annually with a direct $2.5 billion cost.
Legalize and regulate recreational drug sales. Stop the mayhem. Stop the accidental overdose accidents caused by unlabeled and uncontrolled drugs.
Betty Ford and Nancy Reagan beat the drug prohibition drums that Bensinger holds dear, but the costs — violence, overdose and lost life — are unacceptably high, as 275 million people just said yes to illicit drugs in a year, according to a 2021 report by United Nations drug authorities.
James E. Gierach, Palos Park
Police have helped suicidal residents
WBEZ’s recent article about the unfounded fears over the new 988 suicide prevention hotline misses a key point: that residents still call the police for help because they trust the police. The article, which touches upon how the new number is designed to be a more trustworthy alternative to 911, is insulting to the Chicago Police Department and does not address the underlying issue.
There have been hundreds of documented calls to 911 for people “threatening suicide,” which resulted in a police dispatch. WBEZ’s article cites six cases where the police response resulted in death. Six is too many. However, it is equally true that thousands of lives have been saved by timely police response. Of course there will be involuntary admissions. That is not the same as being arrested, and this intervention has been proven effective.
If Community Counseling Centers of Chicago, the nonprofit agency that runs the only 988 call center in the city, wants more support, they should change the shortened version of their name. C4 probably scares people off because C-4 is the name of a plastic explosive substance used by both military and terrorist groups.
David L. Milligan, Portage Park
