THE cause of Whitney Houston’s death remains undisclosed but the widespread assumption is that it was caused by drugs.
After all, she had battled with drug problems earlier in her life, particularly with crack cocaine (although this was something she denied) and she told Oprah Winfrey only three years ago how her mother had confronted her dramatically about her problems. Tales of her use of crack cocaine featured prominently in the early coverage of her death.
Some prominent figures in the US reacted to this by claiming that this latest premature death of a popular artist at a young age drew attention to the failure of the "war against drugs" and the need to follow a different approach, such as the legislation and control of banned substances. It has been widely reported that the singer Tony Bennett told a party gathering on the night of Houston’s death that "first it was Michael Jackson, then it was Amy Winehouse, and now, the magnificent Whitney Houston. I’d like to have every gentleman and lady in this room commit themselves to get our government to legalise drugs — so they’ll have to get it through a doctor, not to some gangsters who just sell it under the table."
It was a bizarre comment because it was based on a complete misunderstanding of the cause of the deaths of those people. It is widely known that Jackson’s death was caused by the lethal ingestion of a cocktail of prescription drugs, supplied by a doctor who is now jailed as a result. Winehouse’s death was attributed to her resumption of the consumption of alcohol that her fragile body was unable to withstand. Houston’s death has not been explained as yet, but her well-documented problems in recent years had been attributed often to a combination of alcohol use and legal prescription drugs, as much as illegal drugs.
The list of prominent actors to have died at a young age in recent years includes actor Heath Ledger, who died because of a fatal combination of painkillers, sleeping pills and anti-depressants. The actress Brittany Murphy died from multiple drug intoxications combined with pneumonia.
In the US it has been estimated that in 2007 there were 28,000 deaths from prescription drug overdoses, five times higher than the number from 1990. A greater number of people die in the US every year from prescription drug abuse than result from the misuse of heroin and cocaine combined.
According to figures supplied in a recent edition of The Economist, 1.2% of all Americans had misused prescription drugs, usually powerful painkillers, in 2001. By 2010 this number had more than doubled to 2.7%, putting painkillers second only to marijuana as the drug of choice (leaving aside alcohol). In 2000 pharmacies dispensed 174m prescriptions for opioids but by 2009 this had increased to 257m. Doctors have been accused of running "pill mills", giving prescriptions quickly in return for cash. If people can’t get drugs themselves they purchase them from family or friends who have obtained them legitimately. Taken in excessive quantities, or mixed with other drugs and/or alcohol, they can be deadly. Regulation does not seem to be working, or at least the enforcement may not be good enough.
This might seem like a good reason for controlling further the supply of such prescribed drugs with greater responsibility being placed on doctors and pharmacists to make it more difficult for those who want these drugs to get them without very good reason.
It might also seem to provide a good argument against the legislation of drugs such as cocaine, heroin, marijuana and other products. If those are made legal then it is probable that the available supply becomes increased and that, in turn, increases the use and misuse of those drugs. They are illegal because they are so harmful. If you make something that is harmful legal, then that confers legitimacy upon it and can promote the use, and then misuse, of it. Some anti-alcohol activists claim that alcohol would be banned immediately if it was a modern day invention that had to be presented to the US Food and Drink Administration for approval: the immediate and long-term effects of excessive consumption are too deadly and would not be tolerated.
The reality is that many people will take drugs whether they are legal or not, good for them or not. At least the amounts of prescription are regulated and users have a degree of confidence about their knowledge of what they are getting (notwithstanding the misuse that still goes ahead). One of the many problems associated with illegal drugs is that nobody knows what they are getting. Criminal distributors have been known to "cut" these drugs with all sorts of other products and additives, including rat poison, to "bulk up" the size of the amount of the drug being sold, increasing their profits from a batch. The health effects of such actions can be disastrous. The type of marijuana being sold in Ireland now is of a much greater potency than was available to previous generations. It is often grown now in industrial-style conditions in Ireland, a genetically modified crop that is far more addictive and potentially damaging to the health of the user. If these illegal drugs were prepared and packaged under licence the potential for regulating the quality and quantity of the doses would be greatly improved.
There are other benefits to legislation. A legitimate industry can be taxed, providing the income to the State to pay for health treatments that may be required because of misuse of the drugs. Price can also be used as a way of moderating consumption, much as is the case with cigarettes and alcohol.
Putting the business in the hands of licensed operators may also help in combating the drug gangs who use extreme and excessive violence as part of their underground and illegal business methods.
One of the arguments made against legislation — apart from ethical or moral ones — is that it cannot be done in Ireland in isolation from the rest of Europe. But this is bogus because other EU countries have different laws.
In Portugal they have come to the conclusion that prohibition does not work and that the issue of drug abuse should be treated as a health rather than criminal one.
A decade ago the Portuguese decriminalised drug use. In Portugal a drug addict is seen as a "sick person" in need of treatment, not as a criminal. The country has a "yellow card" system, which warns users about their behaviour and tries to steer them away from drugs. When people are caught in possession of drugs for personal use (below a specified quantity) they are dealt with by a commission for the dissuasion of drug abuse, comprising a legal expert, a health professional and a social worker.
The Portuguese claim that this has not made the country a "paradise" for users or resulted in more children taking drugs. They claim their comprehensive strategy has led to reduced drug consumption among adolescents, falling heroin use and a reduced burden on the criminal justice system. EU figures now show cannabis and cocaine use among 15-to-34 year olds in Portugal is around half the EU average.
In Ireland we do try to help people with addictions to illegal drugs as a health issue, with some wonderful clinics such as the Coolmine and Merchant’s Quay outfits taking up the burden, with some support from the State. But we still treat people with addictions to illegal drugs differently to those who suffer addictions to legal or accepted drugs.
And as we see too often, the latter can be just as dangerous.
* The Last Word with Matt Cooper is broadcast on 100-102 Today FM, Monday to Friday, 4.30pm to 7pm.
Some prominent figures in the US reacted to this by claiming that this latest premature death of a popular artist at a young age drew attention to the failure of the "war against drugs" and the need to follow a different approach, such as the legislation and control of banned substances. It has been widely reported that the singer Tony Bennett told a party gathering on the night of Houston’s death that "first it was Michael Jackson, then it was Amy Winehouse, and now, the magnificent Whitney Houston. I’d like to have every gentleman and lady in this room commit themselves to get our government to legalise drugs — so they’ll have to get it through a doctor, not to some gangsters who just sell it under the table."It was a bizarre comment because it was based on a complete misunderstanding of the cause of the deaths of those people. It is widely known that Jackson’s death was caused by the lethal ingestion of a cocktail of prescription drugs, supplied by a doctor who is now jailed as a result. Winehouse’s death was attributed to her resumption of the consumption of alcohol that her fragile body was unable to withstand. Houston’s death has not been explained as yet, but her well-documented problems in recent years had been attributed often to a combination of alcohol use and legal prescription drugs, as much as illegal drugs.
The list of prominent actors to have died at a young age in recent years includes actor Heath Ledger, who died because of a fatal combination of painkillers, sleeping pills and anti-depressants. The actress Brittany Murphy died from multiple drug intoxications combined with pneumonia.
In the US it has been estimated that in 2007 there were 28,000 deaths from prescription drug overdoses, five times higher than the number from 1990. A greater number of people die in the US every year from prescription drug abuse than result from the misuse of heroin and cocaine combined.
According to figures supplied in a recent edition of The Economist, 1.2% of all Americans had misused prescription drugs, usually powerful painkillers, in 2001. By 2010 this number had more than doubled to 2.7%, putting painkillers second only to marijuana as the drug of choice (leaving aside alcohol). In 2000 pharmacies dispensed 174m prescriptions for opioids but by 2009 this had increased to 257m. Doctors have been accused of running "pill mills", giving prescriptions quickly in return for cash. If people can’t get drugs themselves they purchase them from family or friends who have obtained them legitimately. Taken in excessive quantities, or mixed with other drugs and/or alcohol, they can be deadly. Regulation does not seem to be working, or at least the enforcement may not be good enough.
This might seem like a good reason for controlling further the supply of such prescribed drugs with greater responsibility being placed on doctors and pharmacists to make it more difficult for those who want these drugs to get them without very good reason.
It might also seem to provide a good argument against the legislation of drugs such as cocaine, heroin, marijuana and other products. If those are made legal then it is probable that the available supply becomes increased and that, in turn, increases the use and misuse of those drugs. They are illegal because they are so harmful. If you make something that is harmful legal, then that confers legitimacy upon it and can promote the use, and then misuse, of it. Some anti-alcohol activists claim that alcohol would be banned immediately if it was a modern day invention that had to be presented to the US Food and Drink Administration for approval: the immediate and long-term effects of excessive consumption are too deadly and would not be tolerated.
The reality is that many people will take drugs whether they are legal or not, good for them or not. At least the amounts of prescription are regulated and users have a degree of confidence about their knowledge of what they are getting (notwithstanding the misuse that still goes ahead). One of the many problems associated with illegal drugs is that nobody knows what they are getting. Criminal distributors have been known to "cut" these drugs with all sorts of other products and additives, including rat poison, to "bulk up" the size of the amount of the drug being sold, increasing their profits from a batch. The health effects of such actions can be disastrous. The type of marijuana being sold in Ireland now is of a much greater potency than was available to previous generations. It is often grown now in industrial-style conditions in Ireland, a genetically modified crop that is far more addictive and potentially damaging to the health of the user. If these illegal drugs were prepared and packaged under licence the potential for regulating the quality and quantity of the doses would be greatly improved.There are other benefits to legislation. A legitimate industry can be taxed, providing the income to the State to pay for health treatments that may be required because of misuse of the drugs. Price can also be used as a way of moderating consumption, much as is the case with cigarettes and alcohol.
Putting the business in the hands of licensed operators may also help in combating the drug gangs who use extreme and excessive violence as part of their underground and illegal business methods.
One of the arguments made against legislation — apart from ethical or moral ones — is that it cannot be done in Ireland in isolation from the rest of Europe. But this is bogus because other EU countries have different laws.
In Portugal they have come to the conclusion that prohibition does not work and that the issue of drug abuse should be treated as a health rather than criminal one.
A decade ago the Portuguese decriminalised drug use. In Portugal a drug addict is seen as a "sick person" in need of treatment, not as a criminal. The country has a "yellow card" system, which warns users about their behaviour and tries to steer them away from drugs. When people are caught in possession of drugs for personal use (below a specified quantity) they are dealt with by a commission for the dissuasion of drug abuse, comprising a legal expert, a health professional and a social worker.
The Portuguese claim that this has not made the country a "paradise" for users or resulted in more children taking drugs. They claim their comprehensive strategy has led to reduced drug consumption among adolescents, falling heroin use and a reduced burden on the criminal justice system. EU figures now show cannabis and cocaine use among 15-to-34 year olds in Portugal is around half the EU average.
In Ireland we do try to help people with addictions to illegal drugs as a health issue, with some wonderful clinics such as the Coolmine and Merchant’s Quay outfits taking up the burden, with some support from the State. But we still treat people with addictions to illegal drugs differently to those who suffer addictions to legal or accepted drugs.
And as we see too often, the latter can be just as dangerous.
* The Last Word with Matt Cooper is broadcast on 100-102 Today FM, Monday to Friday, 4.30pm to 7pm.
Read more: http://www.irishexaminer.com/opinion/columnists/matt-cooper/legislation-to-control-illegal-drugs-may-be-the-best-solution-184132.html#ixzz1meqBFbjc
No comments:
Post a Comment