Saturday, 26th September 2009
Tough sentencing for drug-related hold-ups
To be honest, I found Mr Justice Joseph Galea Debono's call for tough sentences in hold-up cases rather controversial since he admitted that these were often the result of a craving for money by drug addicts.
I do not believe that tough prison sentences will act as a deterrent to such crimes committed by drug addicts. My solution would be to provide more human and material resources to strengthen and improve rehabilitation programmes to enable such addicts to overcome their dependence on substance abuse and start a new life to become productive members of society.
Drug addicts are sick people and they need all the help they can get from other members of society.
While it is true that society's interests have to be protected, there is a big difference between one crime and another. This is not a case of, for instance, a cold-blooded, premeditated murder but rather a crime committed by a person maddened by the need to get money in order to have access to drugs upon which he/she has become totally dependent.
I am, of course, not stating that a drug addict is justified in organizing a hold-up to get money for drugs, what I am saying is that the hold-up is caused by the dependence on drugs. We have to treat the cause of such anti-social actions and not just mete out punishment for the symptoms.
I believe that the solution lies in rehabilitating the sick person whose sickness leads him/her into committing such thoughtless actions to sustain his/her negative habits.
Drug addicts who commit crimes to have money to pay for drugs should not be sent to prison but to special centres where they can follow rehabilitation programmes which will help them to become drug-free and it is these centres which should get the best human and material resources available to ensure that such programmes are successful.
Have you any idea what happens when a drug addict is sent to prison? You can be sure that the chances are that he/she will become even worse than before entering the prison. This is not because of any deficiencies on the part of the hard-working and committed correctional staff at Corradino but because the Corradino Correctional Facility is certainly not the place where a drug addict can rehabilitate himself/herself.
Furthermore, everybody knows that no prison in the world is drug-free, so the chances are that the inmate will resume his habit of substance abuse within the Corradino Correctional Facility itself. No, tough prison sentences for drug-related hold-ups are not a solution.
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Comments
That explains the D1 designation.
Then we should look at the R2 issue which symptom is relapsing, repeating the abuse over and over again. This 'habit' is self induced and very rarely voluntarily relinquished. American prisons are stuffed with such drug abusers most of them relapsing after they had been given every opportunity to rehabilitate. Ditto for Canada, not to mention other countries like Denmark. What is the common denominator of these drug plagued countries? They all offer free sterilized needles and even facilities manned by nurse practitioners where the addicts can shoot their stuff! Some remedy!
Experimenting with drugs once, is a mistake, to persist and imperil one's own life and of others is a crime and should be judged as such.
Drug dependence is not a natural disease. It is a self-imposed affliction with dire consequences not only for the abuser himself, but for his family and to an innocent society traumatized by their violent crimes and the unnecessary expense of funding their treatment thereby deviating badly needed funds from more deserving patients.
Alan I. Leshner
Scientific advances over the past 20 years have shown that drug addiction is a chronic, relapsing disease that results from the prolonged effects of drugs on the brain. As with many other brain diseases, addiction has embedded behavioral and social-context aspects that are important parts of the disorder itself. Therefore, the most effective treatment approaches will include biological, behavioural, and social-context components. Recognizing addiction as a chronic, relapsing brain disorder characterized by compulsive drug seeking and use can impact society's overall health and social policy strategies and help diminish the health and social costs associated with drug abuse and addiction.
The author is with the National Institute on Drug Abuse, National Institutes of Health, 5600 Fishers Lane, Room 10-05, Rockville, MD 20857, USA