Dorm Room Dealers
Who do I picture when I hear the term "drug dealer"? Well, the first thing that pops into my head is a poor, ratty looking junkie, selling drugs off the street and sketchily behind alley ways, in order to get their own fix or make some extra cash. I think of them as dangerous, possessing not only the need for the drug or the greed for money, but one who has grown accustomed to the hardships of the street life and willing to go to any lengths to protect what's theirs, including but not limited to violence. Basically, my views and internal stereotypes of drug dealers were the opposite of the subjects of "Dorm Room Dealers".
"Dorm Room Dealers" completely disproves my views of the typical drug dealer. Mohammed and Fritsvold follow not your stereotypical drug dealers. Their research process followed middle and upper class collegiate students, many of which were business majors, providing an insider's perspective into the college drug-dealing network that no one would have thought even existed. Unlike the stereotypical impression of a drug dealer, these students would not end up in jail, prison, etc. after finishing their run with drug dealing, but mainly with efficient and respectable "white collar" jobs upon completion of college. Their research process took place for about 6 years, interviewing college drug dealers mostly in Southern California, whose networks were in driving range with the US-Mexico border. The authors explored these affluent students drug networks, their base of supply, and their motives behind the greed that drove this drug dealing desire.
A perfect example of how this text disproved my stereotype of a drug dealer was when the authors described the encounter between Brice and Dallas on the very first page. Dallas, under the influence of some sort of substance, stormed into Brice's house and demanded money from his drug-dealing partner. Now, before reading on I automatically assumed a drug-dealing dispute where money and drugs were involved would turn to violence possibly involving a robbery, guns, etc. But, instead this book disproved my stereotype right away as Dallas threatens to call Brice's father as a threat rather than violence. What drug dealer threatens to call someone's parents? This was not only amusing but completely shocking as well, on the very first page of "Dorm Room Dealers", my stereotypes of drug dealers was squashed.
Tuesday, April 14, 2015
Wednesday, April 1, 2015
Comparative Drug Policy Analysis
The Netherlands
To provide some background information, The Netherlands has last recorded to have a population of ~16.8 million people with the average age of the population being around 42 years of age (OECD, 2014). Economically, The Netherlands' gross domestic product (GDP) is $760 Billion with a GDP Per Capita (indicative of the annual performance of a country relative to their population size) of $41,500, which is actually four times higher than the world's average GDP Per Capita. As of 2011, the health expenditures account for 12% of the GDP and the life expectancy of the average person in The Netherlands is ~81 years old. In terms of pharmaceutical use in 2010, The Netherlands had 56% of adults take at least one prescription regularly, while 15% of adults were taking at least four prescriptions regularly. In comparison, the U.S. has the highest drug usage, drug prices, and spending on drugs. According to the OECD Health Statistics of 2014, 11.9% of the GDP in The Netherlands was allotted towards health spending, putting The Netherlands at second for health spending after the United States. It has been reported the health spending within The Netherlands has been slowly increasing despite the economic crisis of recent years.
Dutch policy on drugs evolved differently than it did in other countries. Unlike other nations during the 19th Century, The Netherlands didn't have soldiers becoming addicted to drugs so that was not an issue and there was little research or concern about addiction to drugs within their society. Two factors eventually led to the evolution of the Dutch drug policy; modern medicine and the profiting Dutch colonial drug operations that were taking place.
Drug culture is a big part of the Netherlands, especially when it comes to tourism. People travel from all over to see and visit the "coffee shops" of the Netherlands that are able to legally sell cannabis (up to 5 grams), considered to be a "soft" drug according to Dutch drug policy (Fact Rover, 2014).
The Netherlands is considered to be a major transport location for drugs that enter into Europe. The country serves as a final destination of opium from Afghanistan on what is known as the "Balkan Route". The opium is then used to make heroin and supply Europe with. In addition, The Netherlands is considered to be not only a notable consumer of illicit drugs but also a producer of such drugs like amphetamines and synthetic drugs especially known for Ecstasy.
Drug culture is definitely prominent within the country. Surveys show an increasing trend of cannabis, with inhalants being the second most popular drug among students (aged 15-16).
In terms of drug legality, the country's "White Paper" of 1995 contains the drug policy, differentiating between what they consider "hard" or "soft" drugs as well as outlining four main objectives of the country's drug policy: (i) to prevent drug use and to treat and rehabilitate drug users; (ii) to reduce harm to users; (iii) to diminish public nuisance caused by drug users; and (iv) to combat the production and trafficking of drugs" (EMCDDA, 2014). The Netherlands Opium Act amended in 1976 was the foundation of the country's drug legislature as it defined dealing/possession of drugs, production, and drug trafficking as criminal acts. Hard drugs are considered schedule 1 drugs, yet if someone is found with .5 grams of a hard drug they will no be prosecuted. Small quantities of drugs are not prioritized. 5 grams constitutes the threshold for the amount of cannabis an individual can have on their person. The Dutch drug policy aims to separate illicit drugs ("hard") from cannabis ("soft"). By doing so the governmental policies separates the markets of drug use and the drug users that participate in such, the "acceptable risk" drug user and the "unacceptable risk" drug user, prioritizing the latter.
The Dutch legality of "soft" drugs up to a certain threshold is evident of the lenient structure of their drug legislation compared to that of the United States. In the Netherlands cannabis products are considered "soft" drugs as noted above and can be purchased in "coffee shops" legally. Yet, in the United States cannabis is considered a Schedule 1 drug federally.
The effects of drug use has had an affect on society leading to increase in robberies and drug selling, influencing the creation of the measure Placement in an Institution for Prolific Offenders, constituting mainly problematic drug users. This program requires a combination of imprisonment and behavior therapy, which usually takes place outside of prison. This is interesting because in comparison to the United States and past administrations with the "War on Drugs" efforts, most governmental drug legislation has not been very treatment oriented within the US, yet this piece of legislation from the Dutch government shows more of a pro-treatment stance rather than imprisonment.
Statistically both the life time prevalence and past year prevalence of marijuana use are higher among Americans than adults in the Netherlands. In 2009, 41.5% of adults in the USA claimed to have prevalence of marijuana throughout their life compared to the 25.7% of adults in the Netherlands (Drug War Facts, 2014). Meaning almost double the adults in the US used marijuana throughout their life span compared to those in the Netherlands where drug policies are actually more lenient! That is interesting; perhaps by decriminalizing and not prohibiting cannabis, less people had a desire to use it.
References:
Drug War Facts. (2014). Netherlands Compared with the United States. Retrieved from: http://www.drugwarfacts.org/cms/netherlands_v_us#sthash.mWMbFOR9.dpbs
EMCDDA. (2014). European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction: Netherlands. Retrieved from: http://www.emcdda.europa.eu/publications/country-overviews/nl
Fact Rover. (2014). Netherlands Government. Retrieved from: http://www.factrover.com/government/Netherlands_government.html
OECD. (2014).OECD Health Statistics 2014: How does the Netherlands Compare. Retrived from: http://www.oecd.org/els/health-systems/Briefing-Note-NETHERLANDS-2014.pdf
To provide some background information, The Netherlands has last recorded to have a population of ~16.8 million people with the average age of the population being around 42 years of age (OECD, 2014). Economically, The Netherlands' gross domestic product (GDP) is $760 Billion with a GDP Per Capita (indicative of the annual performance of a country relative to their population size) of $41,500, which is actually four times higher than the world's average GDP Per Capita. As of 2011, the health expenditures account for 12% of the GDP and the life expectancy of the average person in The Netherlands is ~81 years old. In terms of pharmaceutical use in 2010, The Netherlands had 56% of adults take at least one prescription regularly, while 15% of adults were taking at least four prescriptions regularly. In comparison, the U.S. has the highest drug usage, drug prices, and spending on drugs. According to the OECD Health Statistics of 2014, 11.9% of the GDP in The Netherlands was allotted towards health spending, putting The Netherlands at second for health spending after the United States. It has been reported the health spending within The Netherlands has been slowly increasing despite the economic crisis of recent years.
Dutch policy on drugs evolved differently than it did in other countries. Unlike other nations during the 19th Century, The Netherlands didn't have soldiers becoming addicted to drugs so that was not an issue and there was little research or concern about addiction to drugs within their society. Two factors eventually led to the evolution of the Dutch drug policy; modern medicine and the profiting Dutch colonial drug operations that were taking place.
Drug culture is a big part of the Netherlands, especially when it comes to tourism. People travel from all over to see and visit the "coffee shops" of the Netherlands that are able to legally sell cannabis (up to 5 grams), considered to be a "soft" drug according to Dutch drug policy (Fact Rover, 2014).
The Netherlands is considered to be a major transport location for drugs that enter into Europe. The country serves as a final destination of opium from Afghanistan on what is known as the "Balkan Route". The opium is then used to make heroin and supply Europe with. In addition, The Netherlands is considered to be not only a notable consumer of illicit drugs but also a producer of such drugs like amphetamines and synthetic drugs especially known for Ecstasy.
Drug culture is definitely prominent within the country. Surveys show an increasing trend of cannabis, with inhalants being the second most popular drug among students (aged 15-16).
In terms of drug legality, the country's "White Paper" of 1995 contains the drug policy, differentiating between what they consider "hard" or "soft" drugs as well as outlining four main objectives of the country's drug policy: (i) to prevent drug use and to treat and rehabilitate drug users; (ii) to reduce harm to users; (iii) to diminish public nuisance caused by drug users; and (iv) to combat the production and trafficking of drugs" (EMCDDA, 2014). The Netherlands Opium Act amended in 1976 was the foundation of the country's drug legislature as it defined dealing/possession of drugs, production, and drug trafficking as criminal acts. Hard drugs are considered schedule 1 drugs, yet if someone is found with .5 grams of a hard drug they will no be prosecuted. Small quantities of drugs are not prioritized. 5 grams constitutes the threshold for the amount of cannabis an individual can have on their person. The Dutch drug policy aims to separate illicit drugs ("hard") from cannabis ("soft"). By doing so the governmental policies separates the markets of drug use and the drug users that participate in such, the "acceptable risk" drug user and the "unacceptable risk" drug user, prioritizing the latter.
The Dutch legality of "soft" drugs up to a certain threshold is evident of the lenient structure of their drug legislation compared to that of the United States. In the Netherlands cannabis products are considered "soft" drugs as noted above and can be purchased in "coffee shops" legally. Yet, in the United States cannabis is considered a Schedule 1 drug federally.
The effects of drug use has had an affect on society leading to increase in robberies and drug selling, influencing the creation of the measure Placement in an Institution for Prolific Offenders, constituting mainly problematic drug users. This program requires a combination of imprisonment and behavior therapy, which usually takes place outside of prison. This is interesting because in comparison to the United States and past administrations with the "War on Drugs" efforts, most governmental drug legislation has not been very treatment oriented within the US, yet this piece of legislation from the Dutch government shows more of a pro-treatment stance rather than imprisonment.
Statistically both the life time prevalence and past year prevalence of marijuana use are higher among Americans than adults in the Netherlands. In 2009, 41.5% of adults in the USA claimed to have prevalence of marijuana throughout their life compared to the 25.7% of adults in the Netherlands (Drug War Facts, 2014). Meaning almost double the adults in the US used marijuana throughout their life span compared to those in the Netherlands where drug policies are actually more lenient! That is interesting; perhaps by decriminalizing and not prohibiting cannabis, less people had a desire to use it.
References:
Drug War Facts. (2014). Netherlands Compared with the United States. Retrieved from: http://www.drugwarfacts.org/cms/netherlands_v_us#sthash.mWMbFOR9.dpbs
EMCDDA. (2014). European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction: Netherlands. Retrieved from: http://www.emcdda.europa.eu/publications/country-overviews/nl
Fact Rover. (2014). Netherlands Government. Retrieved from: http://www.factrover.com/government/Netherlands_government.html
OECD. (2014).OECD Health Statistics 2014: How does the Netherlands Compare. Retrived from: http://www.oecd.org/els/health-systems/Briefing-Note-NETHERLANDS-2014.pdf
Wednesday, March 25, 2015
Activity 9
"Cocaine Cowboys"
Cocaine Cowboys is a documentary recording the aspects of the importation of cocaine during the 1970's and 1980's in Miami, Florida. The cocaine trade superseded the importation of marijuana. The documentary points out that this influx of cocaine imports caused the price of the drug to decrease within the country since the supply was higher, therefore allowing a greater population of users to be able to afford it, known as "blue collar". This correlates directly to what was discussed in class how originally cocaine was used by the rich and elite and was not seen as a social problem until cocaine swept through the urban U.S. in the 1980's.
In this documentary, importers reveal several methods of importing these narcotics. The cocaine was revealed to be imported by boats and in air travel delivery. They also discuss how these illegal transports were carried out by covering up with legalized businesses. Learning this while watching the documentary reminded me of the T.V. show "Sons of Anarchy" and how the club covered up their illegal gun trade business and short lived business with the cartel with legitimate businesses like the porn industry and an escort business. The documentary also points out that these importers had so much money coming in from this illegal trade that they would tie their money up in real estate infrastructure to control their influxes in finances.
The distribution of these narcotics within the U.S. was also explained in the documentary as the importers describe how once in the country, a lot goes into dealing and managing the cocaine. In class we've discussed the book Cocaine Kids and all that goes into networking and selling the drug once it enters into the country and leaves the importers. In addition, the importers in the documentary revealed how apartments/condos are purchased near ports to monitor radio frequencies of imports and the feds who are patrolling this. In class, we also discussed how in Cocaine Kids the market becomes different towards the end of the book with dealers/importers buying up real estate, which relates directly to the documentary.
Clearly, this influx of cocaine trade caused Miami as a city to experience economic growth. This is due to the increases in legalized businesses that were bought in order to cover up the illegal drug trade, as well as the buildings and real estate being purchased with all the money from the drug trade as well. That is why many affluent businesses closing when the police cracked down on the drug problem and law enforcement picked up. In addition, Miami became a city with increased gang violence as these "Cocaine Cowboys" aspired to run this illegal trade.
Cocaine Cowboys is a documentary recording the aspects of the importation of cocaine during the 1970's and 1980's in Miami, Florida. The cocaine trade superseded the importation of marijuana. The documentary points out that this influx of cocaine imports caused the price of the drug to decrease within the country since the supply was higher, therefore allowing a greater population of users to be able to afford it, known as "blue collar". This correlates directly to what was discussed in class how originally cocaine was used by the rich and elite and was not seen as a social problem until cocaine swept through the urban U.S. in the 1980's.
In this documentary, importers reveal several methods of importing these narcotics. The cocaine was revealed to be imported by boats and in air travel delivery. They also discuss how these illegal transports were carried out by covering up with legalized businesses. Learning this while watching the documentary reminded me of the T.V. show "Sons of Anarchy" and how the club covered up their illegal gun trade business and short lived business with the cartel with legitimate businesses like the porn industry and an escort business. The documentary also points out that these importers had so much money coming in from this illegal trade that they would tie their money up in real estate infrastructure to control their influxes in finances.
The distribution of these narcotics within the U.S. was also explained in the documentary as the importers describe how once in the country, a lot goes into dealing and managing the cocaine. In class we've discussed the book Cocaine Kids and all that goes into networking and selling the drug once it enters into the country and leaves the importers. In addition, the importers in the documentary revealed how apartments/condos are purchased near ports to monitor radio frequencies of imports and the feds who are patrolling this. In class, we also discussed how in Cocaine Kids the market becomes different towards the end of the book with dealers/importers buying up real estate, which relates directly to the documentary.
Clearly, this influx of cocaine trade caused Miami as a city to experience economic growth. This is due to the increases in legalized businesses that were bought in order to cover up the illegal drug trade, as well as the buildings and real estate being purchased with all the money from the drug trade as well. That is why many affluent businesses closing when the police cracked down on the drug problem and law enforcement picked up. In addition, Miami became a city with increased gang violence as these "Cocaine Cowboys" aspired to run this illegal trade.
Wednesday, March 18, 2015
Activity 8
"War on Drugs"
On June 17, 1971 President Richard Nixon declared a "war on drugs". Drug abuse was considered by his administration to be "public enemy number one in the US". This statement alone emphasized the magnitude of the drug issue during this time period. Most recently the number one public enemy has been things such as terrorism so to learn that drug abuse was so severe and problematic that the US President considered it public enemy number one at the time really puts it into perspective.
In order to wage this war on drugs, Nixon established the Drug Enforcing Administration also known as the DEA. In addition to the creation of the DEA, Nixon also announced the creation of the SAODAP, Special Action Office for Drug Abuse Prevention. The Nixon administration's war on drugs pursuit continued with operations such as "Operation Golden Flow" where US military were required to pass a drug test before returning home. This was because heroin abuse oversees was running rampant.
The DEA has been the main result or birthright of President Nixon's war on drugs and his presidency was the only era in the war on drug's history where the majority of funding went to treatment rather than criminalization of drug abusers.
With all that being said I believe thus far this country has not won any war on drugs. In my opinion drug use is a continual issue and no matter the fads with each passing era, drug use with variation in the popular drug types within the time, has not ceased. Therefore, I think this country has "lost" the war so far. I use the term "lost" loosely since that implies it is a permanent result, which isn't the case since I cannot predict the future of drug use in this country. But, so far I believe drug abuse is still a critical issue in this country.
There have been many costs from this war on drugs. Financially speaking, the government has invested an extremely large summation of funds on drug enforcement. Not only does the DEA receive tons of funds to prevent drug abuse in this country, so many other groups and task forces have been allotted tons of government funding to wage this war on drugs such as the ATF and border patrol. Not to mention the task force agents and SWAT teams. In addition to this groups, the increase in technology at borders, to prevent drug control is immense and costly.
In addition to the financial cost of waging a war specifically on drug use in this country, there is also violence to consider. When dealing with the prevention of gangs and cartels pushing drugs, tons of violence is a result with border patrols and drug enforcement agents.
Lastly, the war on drugs has cost many people their lives. I do not mean physical death but instead I mean people having to serve ridiculous time sentences in prison to serve minimum times for drug related crimes; minimum times that were enforced in an effort to fight the war on drugs. For example, during the Reagan administration powder versus crack cocaine had a 100 to 1 ratio and there were people serving longer time sentences for a small amount of crack than there were other criminals who had committed vehement crimes such as rape, as discussed in class.
In conclusion, I believe drug abuse has been a continual and steadfast public enemy of this country, and the US has yet to fully establish a resolution to this problem and solve it justly yet everyday the US seems to be moving towards a better solution to win this war on drugs.
On June 17, 1971 President Richard Nixon declared a "war on drugs". Drug abuse was considered by his administration to be "public enemy number one in the US". This statement alone emphasized the magnitude of the drug issue during this time period. Most recently the number one public enemy has been things such as terrorism so to learn that drug abuse was so severe and problematic that the US President considered it public enemy number one at the time really puts it into perspective.
In order to wage this war on drugs, Nixon established the Drug Enforcing Administration also known as the DEA. In addition to the creation of the DEA, Nixon also announced the creation of the SAODAP, Special Action Office for Drug Abuse Prevention. The Nixon administration's war on drugs pursuit continued with operations such as "Operation Golden Flow" where US military were required to pass a drug test before returning home. This was because heroin abuse oversees was running rampant.
The DEA has been the main result or birthright of President Nixon's war on drugs and his presidency was the only era in the war on drug's history where the majority of funding went to treatment rather than criminalization of drug abusers.
With all that being said I believe thus far this country has not won any war on drugs. In my opinion drug use is a continual issue and no matter the fads with each passing era, drug use with variation in the popular drug types within the time, has not ceased. Therefore, I think this country has "lost" the war so far. I use the term "lost" loosely since that implies it is a permanent result, which isn't the case since I cannot predict the future of drug use in this country. But, so far I believe drug abuse is still a critical issue in this country.
There have been many costs from this war on drugs. Financially speaking, the government has invested an extremely large summation of funds on drug enforcement. Not only does the DEA receive tons of funds to prevent drug abuse in this country, so many other groups and task forces have been allotted tons of government funding to wage this war on drugs such as the ATF and border patrol. Not to mention the task force agents and SWAT teams. In addition to this groups, the increase in technology at borders, to prevent drug control is immense and costly.
In addition to the financial cost of waging a war specifically on drug use in this country, there is also violence to consider. When dealing with the prevention of gangs and cartels pushing drugs, tons of violence is a result with border patrols and drug enforcement agents.
Lastly, the war on drugs has cost many people their lives. I do not mean physical death but instead I mean people having to serve ridiculous time sentences in prison to serve minimum times for drug related crimes; minimum times that were enforced in an effort to fight the war on drugs. For example, during the Reagan administration powder versus crack cocaine had a 100 to 1 ratio and there were people serving longer time sentences for a small amount of crack than there were other criminals who had committed vehement crimes such as rape, as discussed in class.
In conclusion, I believe drug abuse has been a continual and steadfast public enemy of this country, and the US has yet to fully establish a resolution to this problem and solve it justly yet everyday the US seems to be moving towards a better solution to win this war on drugs.
Monday, March 9, 2015
Activity 7
UF Panel on the Legalization of Marijuana
The panel offered insight into the legalization of marijuana. Both sides offered imperative points that could be used to either support or refute the legalization of the popular drug. Yet, in my opinion after watching the panel and evaluating each side's viewpoint and arguments, I personally felt the anti-legalization of weed argument especially points made by Bertha Madras was the most substantial argument with valid points and accreditation.
Bertha Madras, professor at Harvard Medical School and former White House Office of Drug Control employee, made excellent points regarding the anti-legalization of marijuana. There is insufficient medical evidence that proves legitimate medical usage/benefits of marijuana by the FDA (the agency which this country has relied upon for the safety and regulation of drugs).
According to Madras' argument in the panel, there is no sufficient medical usage of marijuana and it poses a threat of addiction. In addition, the point was made that marijuana does in fact serve as an intoxicant that impairs cognitive skills. Another important health reason discussed was there is no known safe dosage of marijuana. In terms of policy, the anti-legalization side addressed the lack of medical use, safety, and possible addiction in their argument, supporting the scheduling of marijuana as a schedule 1 drug.
The legalization side of the debate made excellent claims as well. Medical use of marijuana was sated to not have harmful effects but instead help with pain and increase appetite among sickly patients. In addition, the impairment of cognitive skills argument was disputed by Carl Hart of Columbia University. Another interesting and valid point made by Hart regarding policies was that most of the research done on marijuana has been a product of the National Institute of Drug Abuse. Hart uses this claim to portray this research as being bias in the favor of anti-marijuana.
Another point made supporting the decriminalization of marijuana was that although not making it legal, decriminalizing marijuana would be no different than allowing harmful drugs such as tobacco and alcohol to be on the market. It is a grey area between legalizing marijuana and demonizing and criminalizing the drug.
The panel offered insight into the legalization of marijuana. Both sides offered imperative points that could be used to either support or refute the legalization of the popular drug. Yet, in my opinion after watching the panel and evaluating each side's viewpoint and arguments, I personally felt the anti-legalization of weed argument especially points made by Bertha Madras was the most substantial argument with valid points and accreditation.
Bertha Madras, professor at Harvard Medical School and former White House Office of Drug Control employee, made excellent points regarding the anti-legalization of marijuana. There is insufficient medical evidence that proves legitimate medical usage/benefits of marijuana by the FDA (the agency which this country has relied upon for the safety and regulation of drugs).
According to Madras' argument in the panel, there is no sufficient medical usage of marijuana and it poses a threat of addiction. In addition, the point was made that marijuana does in fact serve as an intoxicant that impairs cognitive skills. Another important health reason discussed was there is no known safe dosage of marijuana. In terms of policy, the anti-legalization side addressed the lack of medical use, safety, and possible addiction in their argument, supporting the scheduling of marijuana as a schedule 1 drug.
The legalization side of the debate made excellent claims as well. Medical use of marijuana was sated to not have harmful effects but instead help with pain and increase appetite among sickly patients. In addition, the impairment of cognitive skills argument was disputed by Carl Hart of Columbia University. Another interesting and valid point made by Hart regarding policies was that most of the research done on marijuana has been a product of the National Institute of Drug Abuse. Hart uses this claim to portray this research as being bias in the favor of anti-marijuana.
Another point made supporting the decriminalization of marijuana was that although not making it legal, decriminalizing marijuana would be no different than allowing harmful drugs such as tobacco and alcohol to be on the market. It is a grey area between legalizing marijuana and demonizing and criminalizing the drug.
Wednesday, February 18, 2015
Activity 6
Oxycontin Express
The main source of the illicit prescription drug pipeline is in Florida, especially South Florida (Broward County) where there are doctors who are licensed and basically writing prescriptions for money. It is incredibly saddening that these "Pain Clinics" are continually writing drug addicts prescriptions for ridiculous amounts of narcotics. Basically, as described in the documentary, some of these "Pain Clinics" are established by non physicians and bring in (most of the time retired) licensed doctors to come and write prescriptions. These clinics do not accept insurance and simply sell narcotics to addicts for cash only. In my opinion, this whole operation is not only unethical but also sketchy and unlawful.
Until recently there was no database that tracks these pain drugs in Florida, allowing addicts to go from doctor to doctor and get more and more pain pills because there is no way of seeing if they have been prescribed pain pills already. The doctors at these pain clinics in Florida will write prescriptions to addicts, and due to the demand for these narcotics, addicts come from all over the pipeline stretching from Ft. Lauderdale to Appalachia in Kentucky.
This is insane to think that Kentucky leads the nation in narcotic overdoses and it is all coming from Florida, especially these Broward County "Clinics". When watching this documentary I was just so shocked that this issue hasn't erupted into a nationwide effort banning these clinics in Florida that are supplying addicts and dealers all the way in Kentucky with drugs!
Policies need to be made in an effort to close these clinics in Broward Country and throughout Florida. There is no reason why "Pain Clinics" that are basically legal drug pushers should even exist. The DEA and nationwide efforts need to be enforced to stop the pipeline of these narcotics.
While watching the documentary I asked myself: what is spending taxpayers money to dispatch and arrest small time users for the possession of these narcotics about to stop? Probably nothing because the people that are spending a couple of years in prison are simply users that were selling to support their own habit and are not the source of the large scale narcotic distribution leading to many overdoses. Instead of going after small time users, in my opinion law enforcement needs to crack down on the real source of this "Pipeline" and that would mean monitoring and regulating these "Pain Clinics". One policy I would suggest being enacted immediately to begin the fight against this issue would be to create a database that tracks these pain pills in Florida that REQUIRES the doctors to check this database and enter in prescriptions IMMEDIATELY after being prescribed. That way, if a licensed physician is still prescribing narcotics to someone who has already been prescribed them from elsewhere, law enforcement can punish the physicians who are supplying these addicts with more drugs for the money and begin shutting down these "Pain Clinics".
In class we have not talked about prescription pills too much yet, but the demand for prescription narcotics like Xanax and does not surprise me after I did a past assignment on the "Xanax epidemic" which has become one of the most abused and addictive drugs among teenagers entering treatment centers currently.
All in all, this concept of legal drug suppliers in forms of licensed physicians completely shocked and scared me. These are physicians who took an oath to help people but instead have used that license to in fact hurt people and cause much more harm then good. The documentary was extremely eye opening and disheartening. It's truly unbelievable that these terrible and immoral "Pain Clinics" have affected so many people across state lines.
That's all I got for now!
Tootles~~
The main source of the illicit prescription drug pipeline is in Florida, especially South Florida (Broward County) where there are doctors who are licensed and basically writing prescriptions for money. It is incredibly saddening that these "Pain Clinics" are continually writing drug addicts prescriptions for ridiculous amounts of narcotics. Basically, as described in the documentary, some of these "Pain Clinics" are established by non physicians and bring in (most of the time retired) licensed doctors to come and write prescriptions. These clinics do not accept insurance and simply sell narcotics to addicts for cash only. In my opinion, this whole operation is not only unethical but also sketchy and unlawful.
Until recently there was no database that tracks these pain drugs in Florida, allowing addicts to go from doctor to doctor and get more and more pain pills because there is no way of seeing if they have been prescribed pain pills already. The doctors at these pain clinics in Florida will write prescriptions to addicts, and due to the demand for these narcotics, addicts come from all over the pipeline stretching from Ft. Lauderdale to Appalachia in Kentucky.
This is insane to think that Kentucky leads the nation in narcotic overdoses and it is all coming from Florida, especially these Broward County "Clinics". When watching this documentary I was just so shocked that this issue hasn't erupted into a nationwide effort banning these clinics in Florida that are supplying addicts and dealers all the way in Kentucky with drugs!
Policies need to be made in an effort to close these clinics in Broward Country and throughout Florida. There is no reason why "Pain Clinics" that are basically legal drug pushers should even exist. The DEA and nationwide efforts need to be enforced to stop the pipeline of these narcotics.
While watching the documentary I asked myself: what is spending taxpayers money to dispatch and arrest small time users for the possession of these narcotics about to stop? Probably nothing because the people that are spending a couple of years in prison are simply users that were selling to support their own habit and are not the source of the large scale narcotic distribution leading to many overdoses. Instead of going after small time users, in my opinion law enforcement needs to crack down on the real source of this "Pipeline" and that would mean monitoring and regulating these "Pain Clinics". One policy I would suggest being enacted immediately to begin the fight against this issue would be to create a database that tracks these pain pills in Florida that REQUIRES the doctors to check this database and enter in prescriptions IMMEDIATELY after being prescribed. That way, if a licensed physician is still prescribing narcotics to someone who has already been prescribed them from elsewhere, law enforcement can punish the physicians who are supplying these addicts with more drugs for the money and begin shutting down these "Pain Clinics".
In class we have not talked about prescription pills too much yet, but the demand for prescription narcotics like Xanax and does not surprise me after I did a past assignment on the "Xanax epidemic" which has become one of the most abused and addictive drugs among teenagers entering treatment centers currently.
All in all, this concept of legal drug suppliers in forms of licensed physicians completely shocked and scared me. These are physicians who took an oath to help people but instead have used that license to in fact hurt people and cause much more harm then good. The documentary was extremely eye opening and disheartening. It's truly unbelievable that these terrible and immoral "Pain Clinics" have affected so many people across state lines.
That's all I got for now!
Tootles~~
Tuesday, February 17, 2015
Activity 5
"Cocaine Kids"
In Cocaine Kids, the author Terry Williams provides an ethnographic research perspective on the urban drug culture of the 1980s. He does so by submersing himself in the culture, which he is studying. He does so by befriending and observing a group of drug dealers and their everyday life for an extended period of time. By doing so, Williams is able to offer the readers insight into the lives of these cocaine dealers on a personal level as well as describing the drug culture of that time from a first hand experience.
Three aspects of the drug culture really stuck out to me as I read Williams' ethnography on the cocaine trade. The first thing that caught my eye was how these cocaine dealers looked down on the use of freebase. This is also something we discussed in class, defining freebase as a combination of a solvent and ammonia in order to remove any hydrochloride and create a base. I thought it was interesting as I read Cocaine Kids that the drug dealers would look down on the use of particular forms of the same drug they produce and sell. In this case, freebase was looked down upon and Max (the leader of the crew) even tested one of his guys out before making him part of the crew by offering him partying with girls and freebasing to see if he would accept the offer.
Another concept within the drug culture, which I had never even heard of until reading this book, was the idea of after-hour clubs. I had no idea these clubs even existed until reading this book. This is definitely a concept of the drug culture that intrigued me; that there was an actually club where drug users/dealers would go to chill out and use these products and exchange these drugs completely under the radar of law enforcement.
Lastly, while reading this book I noticed the concept of how the wives/fiances/girlfriends of these drug dealers are expected to remain at home, caring for the children and staying loyal and committed to their men, while these guys are out on the streets dealing drugs and partying with other women constantly. This notion of ill treatment of women described in the book as an accepted part of the drug culture was saddening to me. This is evident to me when the author speaks one on one with Suzanne, Max's fiance. Terry Williams' noted in the book, "Suzanne protests the double standard that permits Latin males to absolute sexual freedom", yet as I read this I can't help but wonder why women like Suzanne whose significant others are drug dealers and not loyal decide to stick around with that lifestyle.
Terry Williams describes the drug culture and the different forms of cocaine such as crack and freebase throughout his ethnography, which we as a class have discussed. Williams also notes how much how the cocaine being sold on the streets is "cut" with different solvents such as baking powder in order to maximize the drug dealers profit and increase the quantity of the product. This is something we have also talked about in class; mostly all drugs sold are "cut" with other products and pretty much never pure!
That's all I got for now!
Tootles~~
In Cocaine Kids, the author Terry Williams provides an ethnographic research perspective on the urban drug culture of the 1980s. He does so by submersing himself in the culture, which he is studying. He does so by befriending and observing a group of drug dealers and their everyday life for an extended period of time. By doing so, Williams is able to offer the readers insight into the lives of these cocaine dealers on a personal level as well as describing the drug culture of that time from a first hand experience.
Three aspects of the drug culture really stuck out to me as I read Williams' ethnography on the cocaine trade. The first thing that caught my eye was how these cocaine dealers looked down on the use of freebase. This is also something we discussed in class, defining freebase as a combination of a solvent and ammonia in order to remove any hydrochloride and create a base. I thought it was interesting as I read Cocaine Kids that the drug dealers would look down on the use of particular forms of the same drug they produce and sell. In this case, freebase was looked down upon and Max (the leader of the crew) even tested one of his guys out before making him part of the crew by offering him partying with girls and freebasing to see if he would accept the offer.
Another concept within the drug culture, which I had never even heard of until reading this book, was the idea of after-hour clubs. I had no idea these clubs even existed until reading this book. This is definitely a concept of the drug culture that intrigued me; that there was an actually club where drug users/dealers would go to chill out and use these products and exchange these drugs completely under the radar of law enforcement.
Lastly, while reading this book I noticed the concept of how the wives/fiances/girlfriends of these drug dealers are expected to remain at home, caring for the children and staying loyal and committed to their men, while these guys are out on the streets dealing drugs and partying with other women constantly. This notion of ill treatment of women described in the book as an accepted part of the drug culture was saddening to me. This is evident to me when the author speaks one on one with Suzanne, Max's fiance. Terry Williams' noted in the book, "Suzanne protests the double standard that permits Latin males to absolute sexual freedom", yet as I read this I can't help but wonder why women like Suzanne whose significant others are drug dealers and not loyal decide to stick around with that lifestyle.
Terry Williams describes the drug culture and the different forms of cocaine such as crack and freebase throughout his ethnography, which we as a class have discussed. Williams also notes how much how the cocaine being sold on the streets is "cut" with different solvents such as baking powder in order to maximize the drug dealers profit and increase the quantity of the product. This is something we have also talked about in class; mostly all drugs sold are "cut" with other products and pretty much never pure!
That's all I got for now!
Tootles~~
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