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OPINIONS
Editorial: Everyone has a stake in fighting drug abuse
Participants applaud one of the speakers at last weekÕs fourth annual Cabell Drug Prevention Summit. About 200 people took part in the Thursday afternoon session, which was held at the Big Sandy Superstore Arena.
Purchase this photoDrug abuse affects everyone.
Many of us know an individual who has been crippled by drugs, but even if we don't, we all live our lives a little differently each day because of the crime and violence that drug habits produce.
For most of us it's both. We know the families that have been injured by drugs, we see the children whose future is clouded by drugs, and we suffer the break-ins, muggings, copper thefts, robberies or worse that feed the drug trade.
At first blush, we often see the drug problem as a law enforcement problem -- if the cops would just lock these people up, it will go away. But that strategy alone does not work. The police have arrested thousands of people, the jails are full and still we read each day about new twists to drug use and new trends in crime.
For those who attended or read about the fourth annual Cabell Drug Prevention Summit in Huntington last week, there is a growing awareness that this is not only a very pervasive problem, but a very complex problem.
We cannot simply address the "supply" side -- the purse snatchers, the dealers and the sources.
We also must address the "demand" side. As Huntington Police Chief Skip Holbrook pointed out at the summit Thursday, we are an "addicted community."
That is why the dealers come here from two and three states away.
That is why people travel to Florida, buy multiple prescriptions of pain pills and bring them home.
Even if we catch these people, we have not solved the problem.
Dr. Mike O'Neill of the University of Charleston, who is a leading expert in prescription drug abuse, points out that as law enforcement cracks down on one type of drug trafficking, another type pops up -- like squeezing a balloon -- because the addiction remains.
To make a real difference, law enforcement efforts must be combined with greater treatment, rehabilitation and prevention efforts. And as speakers and participants at the summit pointed out last week, there is a lot of work needed in those areas.
Bob Hansen of the Prestera Center said there are an estimated 22 million people in the United States suffering from drug abuse -- 10 times the total treatment capacity and 10 times the total national jail population.
Here in the Tri-State, we certainly need to push for greater state investment in treatment and rehabilitation, but as a community we must also provide financial support to the much needed local initiatives such as the Healing Place, which will soon be offering a peer-based rehabilitation program in Huntington.
This is not just a problem for the police, the courts, the schools and social services. This is our problem, and it will take everyone working together to beat it.
