Consign the drug war to history: We cannot prosecute our way out of the opioid crisis
By Sheila P. Vakharia
A heroin user prepares to shoot up on Friday, April 21, 2017 at St. Ann's and E.150th St. in the Bronx. (Marcus Santos)
There were almost 64,000 overdose deaths in the United States in 2016, according to the Centers of Disease Control, and recent estimates suggest that this number continues to rise. All of us are scrambling for solutions at this critical moment.
We are at a crossroads: Do we go back to the punitive, failed drug-war tactics of the past or do we commit our hearts and resources to a new, more effective approach that promotes public health and healing?
Some politicians are confused. Last week, I got a newsletter from my state senator, Marty Golden. Tucked inside it, next to announcements about concerts in the park and the upcoming construction of an elevator at the 86th St. subway station, were a few paragraphs about his support for Laree's Law, a bill that would let law enforcement officials charge a drug dealer with homicide if a death results from the sale of heroin or another opioid.
Golden and others who back it — it passed the state Senate this past session — are living in the past.
First problem: There is no evidence that more drug-induced homicide prosecutions translate into lower overdose death rates. As more communities pass these laws, the number of overdoses has only increased, both across the nation and in New York State. There's also no evidence that targeting dealers actually disrupts drug markets. In fact, research suggests that markets are quite resilient; they adapt and simply move further underground.
Another thing wrong with drug-induced homicide laws is that, although they may appear to target kingpins and high-level traffickers, they rarely end up actually being used on these individuals. The Drug Policy Alliance released a report last year that found that these laws are often used to prosecute low-level sellers or even the friend or loved one who called 911 for medical help.
The New York Times recently reported that fellow users, who might have been with the overdose victim at the time of their death, are increasingly targeted. The unintended effect of these laws is that they are sending the message that an overdose is no longer just a medical emergency but the scene of a crime, making it harder for people present to call for help and save lives.
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This is the exact opposite of the lesson we were supposed to have learned decades after the failed war on drugs.
Indeed, new research suggests that people convicted of drug-induced homicides are being sentenced to longer jail terms than ever before. The Health in Justice Action Lab has found that the average sentences for these charges are now around 17 years. This is unsustainable in our current criminal justice system — especially in New York State, where we have come to rely upon incarceration as a solution to too many of our social problems.
So what should we do? How can we address our overdose crisis?
Golden is right that we need more accessible treatment options in our community. We also need more harm-reduction options. Decades of research that show that medication-assisted treatments like methadone and buprenorphine save lives. Syringe exchange programs prevent the spread of blood-borne diseases and also provide people who inject drugs with access to life-saving naloxone. International research shows that supervised consumption spaces, also known as supervised injection facilities, make everyone safer.
Drug-induced homicide prosecutions don't save lives; harm reduction and treatment do.
Vakharia is the policy manager of the office of academic engagement for the Drug Policy Alliance.