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Junkies stay hooked behind bars

ANDRÉ PICARD

From Friday's Globe and Mail

Latest comment posted at 10:04 AM EST 20/10/08

Injection-drug users who are incarcerated are less likely to kick their habit than those who remain in the community, says study ...Read the full article

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  1. greg middleton from Canada writes: More Jails are not always the answer. The Conservatives will probably ignore this study as well revealing that their stance is not based on Economics or concerns about Public Health but an Ideological opposition to helping 'Criminals' in any way.
    Addiction is a Public Health and Safety Issue. Addicts are also member of the Public.
  2. Bobby Dy from Canada writes: No surprises here. This is exactly why the CPC platform is wrongheaded. Putting addicts in prison is an extremely expensive solution to a public health problem.
  3. J.C. Davies from Canada writes:
    This "study" is nothiing but propaganda by the pro-drug lobby.

    The key statement from the article is: Incarceration was defined as "being in detention, prison or jail overnight or longer in the previous six months."

    Of course being jailed for a night or two will have no impact. What are the rates for those jailed for at least a year?
  4. A. Cordaie from Canada writes: Perhaps it would be a good idea for the writer/researcher of this article to check their facts before publication.

    Methadone programs ARE offered in some prisons, such as federal institutions across Canada. They are commonly referred to as MMT (Methadone Maintenance Therapy) programs.
  5. No Name from VANOC- er, Vancouver, Canada writes: Ah, yes, the "pro-drug lobby." Good one, J.C. Davies. And calling people who'd rather use their dollars to support rehab and treatment for addicts rather than focusing on punishment alone "pro-drug" is somehow not propaganda? Pathetic.

    However, perhaps there should be some mention on what the average length of time spent in jail was for all those included in the study. That being said, it still doesn't explain the disparity. Perhaps those driven to crime are "more addicted" than those who do not commit them... or are at least caught and punished for them. Meh.

    Who knows? This is yet another case of shoddy, incomplete reporting -- it's not going to change anyone's mind.
  6. Peter Stern from Toronto, Canada writes: J.C. Davies, yeah you might consider it to be propaganda, but it miraculously mirrors real-world experience in countries like Switzerland who have de-criminalized drug addiction and instead treat it as predominately as a medical problem (however, drug trafficing is still treated as a criminal issue). You see, in *reality*, a drug addict gets more help from a doctor than a prison guard. But if you disagree with this, perhaps *YOU* could explain to all of us how the prison system is better at curing addictions compared to the medical system.
  7. C Oslie from Canada writes: Why did some of the individuals go to jail while the others studied did not? If the courts aren't arbitrary and capricious, there must be some differences between the two groups.

    Why should we think jail made these people stay addicted longer when it's just as likely that the ones who ended up in jail were more troubled to start with, and thus would have more problems with or without jail?

    Correlation doesn't equal causation, and in "natural experiments" it is absolutely vital to make sure your participants aren't self selecting in one way or another.
  8. byronc conroy from vancouver island, writes: WHAT HAPPENS after 6 months?
  9. Richard F from Vancouver Island, Canada writes: The article suggests that prisoners are able to continue their habit(s) while incarcerated. How pray tell? Line screws bringing in contraband? Visitors? Stuff tossed over the fence, or dropped from airplanes? Carrier pigeons? Or maybe the dope is brought in with the groceries... And who pays for the (locked up) junkies habit, or do they go steal cars in Surrey while out on escorted day pass? Perhaps it's time for a lock-down, no access, no nonsense, no frills jail to end the nonsense.
  10. Russell Barth from Nepean, Canada writes: the conservatives don't want to treat addicts, they just want to build jails and fill them so that the jailers get rich, the RCMP is constantly busy, and the rest of society is filled with fear

    Nice of the globe to refer to sick and often dying people as "junkies" though... real classy.....
  11. John O'Connor from Toronto, Canada writes: "Overnight" is not incarcerated! How many junkies break the habit after 1 trip to a safesite? Give them treatment IN JAIL and if they are "drug free' before the end of their sentence they get probation.
  12. Ian MacIsaac from Victoria, Canada writes: If there was help for inmates to quit using heroin that could be considered rehabilitation, and we don't rehabilitate anymore, we simply punish.

    The current vogue is to make sure that once you're a convicted criminal, you're always seen as a criminal by society. And what greater crime than using a drug that's not taxed by Ottawa?

    And by all accounts our prisons are just crime schools. It would seem like we'd want the prisoners to use more drugs so that they miss their B&E or car theft classes.

    In BC we no longer allow inmates to smoke cigarettes at all. It's going to be a big wake-up call when it becomes obvious that most of the health problems that "junkies" have are tobacco related and not from using heroin.
  13. Gyula Huszar from Vancouver, Canada writes: This is just another example of research conducted to support a point of view, and in this case, it's the point of view of the Addict Support Industry. I've railed about the Addict Support Industry, and I've outlined their agenda, and this piece falls nicely into their plan as long as certain suppositions are made.
    Here's one. Addicts are more likely to kick the habit out of jail than in it. Of course, jail is not meant to fight addiction, it is meant to punish antisocial behaviours, like robbery, or drug trafficking. It is also a counterbalance to the elimination of all rules and regulations. Imagine a world where jails did not exist, and punishment was not a concept. Is the Addict Support Industry advocating the elimination of jails? What conclusions can you draw?
    Unfortunately for all of us, world opinion can be directed by sound bites. Put up the headline, "Youth gang attacks elderly couple", and the outcry to lock up the youth of the world rings in our ears, for about one day. It may not matter that within the body of the text of the story that the 'elderly couple' were actually operating a crack-house, and the youth were concerned youth from the vicinity that wanted to stop the spread of addiction in their neighborhood. Ask any journalist, they'll tell you that 90% of people read only the headline, and will offer up an opinion based on that alone.
    Now we have the Addict Support Industry and the Conservative Neo-Cons with their buddies the RCMP shooting round after round over each others bows, tit for tat, and we, as the great unwashed can only look on in awe of the ludicrous display of machismo on both sides. How very sad that in this day and age we are subjected to the views of both sets of extremists, each of them trying desperately to sway public opinion and win the debate. In the meantime, the needs of the addicts are forgotten, all in the name of winning. Truly, we have lost our way here.
  14. Liam Smith from Canada writes: Gyula Huszar - Great post. Well said.
  15. Jim Forshaw from Canada writes: This is an inaccurate and misleading article.

    The "research" criteria ensures that there can be no real meaningful conclusions !

    What does an overnight or short term period of incarceration have to do with the rehabilitation of an addict ?

    Articles of this type only serve to support the agenda of the fringe drug and aids activists who do more harm than good.
  16. Kevin Desmoulin from Toronto, Canada writes: Only the Addict is able to quit once one has decide to quit, jail will do nothing, as soon as one gets out, if the person is still in that addict head space. They will most likely continue to use drug of choice regardless.

    Addiction is more in the mind then anything else, your body may be clean, but one will still think of it, It takes years to change that around.

    Spoken from empirical experience.

    Addiction is Medical affliction same as any other addiction.

    Give people a way out, More Services please.
  17. ALASTAIR JAMES BERRY from Nanaimo BC, Canada writes: I lived in the thirties in a MEDICAL/POLICE household as a kid in Edinburgh, Scotland................................... And that fair City had brothels, 'opium dens' and addicts hooked on cocaine and mostly women hooked on opiates, barbiturates and cooking sherry. BUT THERE WAS LITTLE VIOLENT CRIME ASSOCIATED WITH THE SCENE...........................And the WORTHIES WHO RAN THE CITY WERE HAPPY TO KEEP IT THAT WAY. The occasional student hopped up on cocaine might be arrested for a traffic offence if he drove his OPEN TOURER( car) with half a dozen screaming FLAPPERS(girls) round and round the statues that seemed to dominate every crossroad in our city.............but that was it! BOYS WILL BE BOYS. And the girls hooked on opiates? Yes she lost her DAD in the trenches...... she's still a good maid. And if one of the CITY's WORTHIES was frequenting the COSMO CLUB? .........................His wife has been poorly since the birth of her last child! Society was willing to cope and offer compassion and THERE WAS LITTLE OR NO VIOLENT CRIME!!! (sure there were MURDERS but mostly SEX related) -----------------------------------The CONTRAST TODAY............................. NOW WITH DRACONIAN LAWS BOTH HERE, AND IN SCOTLAND, DRUG ASSOCIATED CRIME IS OUT OF CONTROL. IN LOWER BC WE HAVE HAD UPWARDS OF 90 YOUNG MEN KILLED AND AS YET NO CONVICTIONS, IN THE ONGOING DRUG "TURF WARS" The answers are obvious to me, but not to the "TOSS EM ALL IN PRISON AND THROW AWAY THE KEY" vigilante posse, who seem to dominate Canadian Society these days.
  18. Wilma Guywin from Allover Canada, Canada writes: Russell Barth from Nepean, Canada writes: the conservatives don't want to treat addicts, they just want to build jails and fill them so that the jailers get rich, the RCMP is constantly busy, and the rest of society is filled with fear

    Nice of the globe to refer to sick and often dying people as "junkies" though... real classy.....

    You can't treat addicts unless they want to be treated. Junkies will steal, assault and rob to get drugs. Most Canadians have seen the police video of the guy driving the car with a loaded gun all hopped up on meth. What if he could have got that gun to fire or killed some innocent person with the car. If a junkie breaks the law they need to go to jail. Being an alcoholic is no excuse for driving drunk. Being a junkie is no excuse for comitting a crime.
  19. Valkyrie 23 from Guelph, Canada writes: Thanks Wilma: great post!

    Was the article researching addicts who wanted to overcome their addiction, or researching junkies who happened to quit because of incarceration/the inability to get drugs? Before we come to any conclusions, that little question needs to be answered. As Wilma said, it all depends on the desire to be reformed - you can't force someone to loose their drug addiction.
    I mean, heaven forbid we FORCE people, criminals especially, to overcome their drug habits. Oh no, it's against their rights to force them to not kill themselves slowly with intravenous drugs. Sometimes I really do wonder about the state of our justice system... especially because of the people who stick up for the junkies! They should build a Junkie Jail which is just like jail but with specific programs like those in rehab.

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