"The Drug Problem"
Why Biden's Drug Policy Doesn't Work
See photo credits at end of article.
The following is an excerpt from p. 238-243 of "Conclusion: Undoing Drugism" from my new book, Drugism (2022):
Irving Horowitz wrote in 1971 that “drug problems are social problems more than chemical problems.”[i] In 1999, Noam Chomsky explained that “the ‘drug problem,’ as it’s called, is largely a manufactured problem.”[ii] So, if the issues associated with drugs are fundamentally social in nature and are manufactured, as Horowitz and Chomsky insist, what are the solutions to these problems? Let us now turn our attention to some attempts by various people and institutions to resolve “the drug problem,” so to speak.
Countless people have made countless efforts to solve the problems associated with illegal drugs. Some have worked. Most have not. Before we examine the strategies that do help, it is pertinent to also look at some that do not, and to ask why they do not. Such failed strategies are not hard to find. They are in action—or rather, in inaction—all around us.
“Drug problems are social problems...”
For example, consider Customs and Border Protection’s (CBP) new plan to stop drug trafficking across the US-Mexico border. The agency recently announced a plan to install high-tech scanners at numerous ports of entry along the border. These scanners, referred to as “multi-energy portals,” will “zap” cargo trucks with “high-energy waves” in order to see what is inside them.[iii]
Such technology is already used to screen a small number—less than 5%—of the trucks which pass through the Laredo border crossing. The project will not only introduce “multi-energy portals” to more border points, but will transform CBP into a full blown, NSA-style surveillance juggernaut. The plan includes the creation of “central command centers,” where CBP employees will monitor a surveillance system that collects data from cameras, license plate recognition software, radio frequency identification, as well as Department of Homeland Security databases. The CBP employees will receive this information, as well as “vivid 3D images of the vehicles and their cargo,” an hour before a given vehicle even arrives at the border.[iv] The plan will cost nearly half a billion dollars.
An NBC headline enthusiastically exclaimed that “Vehicle scanning technology at the border is about to ruin the drug trade.”[v] But will all this expensive gadgetry actually stop drug trafficking? Gil Kerlikowske, the former head of the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) who was also a CBP commissioner for the Obama administration, warned “we’re not going to seize our way out of this…increased seizures don’t seem to be resulting in fewer deaths.”[vi]
“We’re not going to seize our way out of this…increased seizures don’t seem to be resulting in fewer deaths.”
Eric Olson, a fellow at the Wilson Center who studies drug trafficking on the US-Mexico border, explained that “the honest truth is there’s no way to completely stop the flow of illegal drugs as long as demand in the United States is high.”[vii] Regarding the new CBP program, Olson said “it’s really hard to think it’ll have much success.” He pointed out that drug trafficking organizations can simply change how they import drugs into the US: stop using cargo trucks and instead use passenger vehicles, boats, airplanes, underground tunnels, etc. They could also set up drug labs and grows within the US to bypass the need to cross the border altogether—something which evidence suggests they have already started to do.[viii]
Frankly, the idea that by scanning every incoming cargo truck across several ports in the southern border the CBP can stop or even put a dent in illegal drug trafficking is laughable. To think that half a billion dollars will be wasted on the effort, however, may make one want to cry. As Kerlikowske pointed out, this particular approach is not likely to reduce overdose deaths, let alone the abundance of illegal drugs in the US.
The central rationale for this plan is that if we can halt the flow of illegal drugs, then the problems associated with them will go away. The main flaw in this argument is that it is simply not possible. Realistically, the countless sources of illegal drugs can never be fully, or even substantially, eradicated. As we have seen, drug markets are extremely elastic. The notion that with enough surveillance we can once and for all stop the flow of illegal drugs into the US is a quaint one. But as long as there is demand for illegal drugs, people will find a way to supply them. Ultimately, this approach is bound to fail.
Rockefeller Neuroscience Institute scientists insert electrodes into the brain to deliver electrical stimulation.
Accordingly, others have tried to resolve the issue by tackling the demand for drugs. These efforts have taken a bizarrely dystopian turn in recent years. For example, scientists at the Rockefeller Neuroscience Institute have devised a technique which they hope will help stop the habitual use of illegal drugs, particularly opioids. The technique involves the use of brain surgery to insert electrodes directly into the brain which then deliver electrical stimulation.[ix] The target is the nucleus accumbens, an area of the brain which is important for several reasons. It is generally accepted that this region is vital to the brain’s reward system; it is also thought to be activated by drug use; it is also a source of dopamine.[x]
The technique has been tested on three people as of this writing. One of them quit using opioids altogether; another quit using illegal opioids but still uses Suboxone, itself a mixture of an opioid with naloxone; the third patient relapsed. With a track record like that, I cannot help but wonder how such a technique could possibly play a major role in reducing drug demand nationwide. According to NBC, "experts caution [that] broader use is still years away.”[xi] The next phase of this research will apply the technique to ten people. Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of lives will be lost to opioid overdose, unless and until we find better solution.
So far, the Rockefeller Neuroscience Institute’s technique has been targeted toward people who use opioids. A similar but less invasive technique is also being studied as a way to help people stop habitual use of cocaine and methamphetamine.[xii] The technique is called repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation, or rTMS, and rather than an implant, it uses magnetic waves to stimulate activity in brain cells.
A similar technique is being studied as a way to help people stop using cocaine and methamphetamine.
And while it is less invasive than brain surgery, it does have its own side effects. According to the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, roughly half of the people who receive rTMS get headaches from it. Approximately one third experience “facial twitching” or “painful scalp sensation.”[xiii] Most concerning of all, rTMS may result in seizures. Nonetheless, the project to study rTMS in people who use cocaine or methamphetamine was recently granted funding by the National Institute on Drug Abuse.
It does not take long to realize that such techniques will never be achievable on a massive enough scale to effectively curb drug demand in the US. And even if they were, would we really want millions of people to receive brain implants in the hopes that it might help them reduce or stop their illegal drug use? What kind of a solution, really, is this?
Surely, there must be other ways to go about this that don’t involve fancy, expensive gadgets with dismal success rates? Spoiler alert: yes, there are. In fact, there are several things we can do which evidence has repeatedly shown will drastically reduce and in some cases eliminate completely the various issues associated with illegal drugs.
The Biden administration’s new approach to drugs is a step in the right direction, but falls short in some key ways.
The Biden administration’s new approach to drugs is a step in the right direction—but it falls short in some key ways. There are numerous components in his new, multifaceted plan to address record drug overdose rates in the US. Some of them are much needed, and are fairly certain to be effective. Others are neither needed nor effective. Let’s take a quick look at what they are.
The best things about Biden’s plan are that it increases funding for naloxone, fentanyl test strips, and needle exchange.[xiv] This is all great, arguably some of the best use of federal funds that we have yet seen regarding illegal drugs.
The plan has also expanded methadone access by easing DEA regulations.[xv] Similarly so with buprenorphine.[xvi] Both of these (legal) drugs are good options for people looking to safely maintain, reduce, or stop their use of opioids. But they do not work for everyone.
The Biden administration’s plan also studied other harm reduction strategies through the CDC.[xvii] In fact, the overall focus of the plan has been harm reduction. This is good. But it is not enough.
And there are some parts of the plan that will almost certainly not help but instead lead to further harm. One such move was the request that the Biden administration made to the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs to add several fentanyl precursor chemicals as well as two synthetic opioids and one synthetic stimulant to a list of internationally prohibited substances. Unfortunately, the UN accepted the request and unanimously voted to ban the six substances.
Why is it unfortunate? On the surface, this plan may sound logical. The ban on these novel substances will allow law enforcement to take action when they find them which will, in theory, allow authorities to reduce or eliminate the market for them. However, it makes the same mistake as the above-mentioned CBP project: it ignores the elasticity of the illegal drug market.
The substances that Biden has moved to prohibit are those that traffickers flocked to after the last US-requested UN ban on fentanyl precursors in 2017.
Even if this move to ban these substances results in a real and substantial reduction in their availability, traffickers will simply find new precursors and, if necessary, new drugs altogether to replace them. How can we be certain? This exact scenario has played out countless times before. In fact, the very substances that the Biden administration has moved to prohibit are merely the ones that traffickers flocked to after the last US-requested UN ban on fentanyl precursors, enacted in 2017.
Now that the UN has banned a new batch, drug trafficking organizations have almost certainly already begun to find and use new, unrestricted chemicals (which are likely to be even more dangerous than those they have replaced). Unless our collective approach to drugs changes anytime soon, these new chemicals will likely be identified and banned in the coming years, and the process will start again.
The move will produce, at most, a tiny hiccup in the global illicit drug trade. An astonishingly high number of precursor chemicals have already been banned for years, and the drug trade is now larger than ever. This is, clearly, one component of Biden’s plan that we should not expect much—indeed, any—success from.
There is another. As part of a new, collaborative counternarcotics strategy with the Colombian government, the US will renew its efforts to destroy drug crops and laboratories in Colombia.[xviii] Of course, this has been done before and is ultimately futile. Besides not working, such actions do more harm than good by destroying people’s livelihoods and fueling the establishment of new grows and labs in other locations. They also create animosity between drug trafficking organizations and governments, when the two parties should instead seek mutual understanding and peaceful, democratic solutions (it sounds crazy, I know).
Drug trafficking organizations and governments should seek mutual understanding and peaceful, democratic solutions.
The new US-Colombia counternarcotics strategy does include at least one provision which has some merit. One of the strategy’s aims is environmental protection, and it includes plans to restore tropical rainforest destroyed by illegal drug production, according to a White House press release.[xix] The same announcement explains that the strategy will also pursue “opportunities to advance climate change goals in the pivotal Amazon region.” If reforestation is indeed accomplished, that will benefit the entire planet. And if we are to ever recover from the War on Drugs, many more similar efforts will be needed.
The biggest problem with Biden’s multifaceted drug policy plan is not any one of its individual parts. Instead, it is the overall lack of commitment. As mentioned above, there are several components of Biden’s plan that will definitely be helpful: needle exchange, expanded naloxone and methadone access, etc. These things are small steps forward. However, the prohibition of new substances, destruction of crops and labs, and so forth, are all steps backward.
Instead of continuing the failed strategy of banning drugs and seizing and destroying peoples’ means of supporting themselves, there are a series of steps we can take that have been proven to effectively combat the issues associated with illegal drug use. We will see just what these steps are in a moment. [Click here to see a 5-step plan for drug policy.]
It would be foolish to expect drastic drug policy reform from Biden, a quintessential, old-school drug warrior.
First, however, I should note that it would be foolish to expect drastic drug policy reform from the Biden administration. Biden is the quintessential, old-school drug warrior. We saw, for example, that he spearheaded the campaign to federally restrict ketamine back in the ‘90s. Considered in the context of his entire career, Biden’s current drug policy is actually shockingly progressive.
But people are still dying.
[Keep reading here.]
Endnotes
[i] See Horowitz, “The Politics of Drugs,” from Rock, ed., Drugs and Politics, 166 and throughout.
[ii] See 1:34:50-1:35:00 in Chomsky, “Foundations of World…” A transcript is also available at the link provided in the full citation for this talk in Sources.
[iii] Miroff, “As lethal fentanyl…”
[iv] Ibid.
[v] Bernstein, “Vehicle scanning technology…”
[vi] Miroff.
[vii] Ibid.
[viii] Hari, 284.
[ix] Snow, Carroll, and Dunn, “Deep brain stimulation…”
[x] Fernández-Espejo, “How does the…”
[xi] Snow, Carroll, and Dunn.
[xii] National Institute on Drug Abuse, “Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation…”
[xiii] Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, “Frequently Asked Questions…”
[xiv] The White House, “FACT SHEET.”
[xv] “White House Releases…” and “DEA Finalizes Measures…”
[xvi] The White House.
[xvii] “White House Releases…”
[xviii] “The White House…”
[xix] Ibid.
Sources
Bernstein, Leandra. “Vehicle scanning technology at the border is about to ruin the drug trade.” NBC, Aug 29, 2019.
Chomsky, Noam. “Foundations of World Order: the United Nations, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.” MIT Technology and Culture Forum, 1999. https://infinite.mit.edu/video/noam-chomsky-foundations-world-order-united-nations-world-bank-international-monetary-fund-and
“DEA Finalizes Measures to Expand Medication-Assisted Treatment.” Drug Enforcement Administration, Jun 28, 2021. https://www.dea.gov/press-releases/2021/06/28/dea-finalizes-measures-expand-medication-assisted-treatment
Fernández-Espejo, E. “How does the nucleus accumbens function?” Revista de neurologia,;30(9):845-9, May 2000.
Hari, Johann. Chasing the Scream: The First and Last Days of the War on Drugs. Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, New York, NY. 2015.
Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. “Frequently Asked Questions About TMS.” https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/psychiatry/specialty _areas/brain_stimulation/tms/faq_tms.html
Miroff, Nick. “As lethal fentanyl flows across Mexico border, CBP tries powerful scanning technology.” The Washington Post, Feb 13, 2022.
National Institute on Drug Abuse. “Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation for the Treatment of Methamphetamine/Cocaine Use Disorder.” https://nida.nih.gov/about-nida/organization/cctn/ctn/research-studies/transcranial-magnetic-stimulation-treatment-methamphetaminecocaine-use-disorder
Rock, Paul E., ed. Drugs and Politics. Transaction Books, New Brunswick, NJ. 1977.
Snow, Kate, Linda Carroll, and Lauren Dunn. “Deep brain stimulation may ease opioid addiction when other treatments fail.” NBC, Sep 29, 2021.
The White House. “FACT SHEET: Addressing Addiction and the Overdose Epidemic.” Mar 1, 2022. https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2022/03/01/fact-sheet-addressing-addiction-and-the-overdose-epidemic/
“The White House Releases Details of the New, Holistic U.S.-Colombia Counternarcotics Strategy.” The White House, Oct 25, 2021. https://www.whitehouse.gov/ondcp/briefing-room/2021/10/25/the-white-house-releases-details-of-the-new-holistic-u-s-colombia-counternarcotics-strategy/
“White House Releases List of Actions Taken by the Biden-Harris Administration Since January 2021 to Address Addiction and the Overdose Epidemic.” The White House, Jan 18, 2022. https://www.whitehouse.gov/ondcp/briefing-room/2022/01/18/white-house-releases-list-of-actions-taken-by-the-biden-harris-administration-since-january-2021-to-address-addiction-and-the-overdose-epidemic/
Photo credits:
[Clockwise from top left.]
Smoking meth pipe photo from Calm Rehab Bali: https://calmrehab.com/crack-cocaine-and-what-it-does-to-your-body/
Cash and pills photo from Jackson County Sheriff’s Office: https://jacksonso.org/news/f/illegal-drug-shipment-stopped-after-marked-lane-violation
Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (rTMS) machine photo from Johns Hopkins University: https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/psychiatry/specialty_areas/brain_stimulation/tms/
rTMS explanatory graphic from Health Rising: https://www.healthrising.org/blog/2020/07/20/tms-magnetic-stimulation-fibromyalgia-lasting-relief/
Shipment of illegal drugs photo from Savannah Morning News: https://www.savannahnow.com/story/news/2019/11/05/border-agents-seize-31-million-cocaine-shipment-at-port-of-savannah/2365046007/
Digital scans of vehicles carrying illegal drugs from Customs and Border Protection via NBC: https://nbcmontana.com/news/nation-world/vehicle-scanning-technology-at-the-border-is-about-to-ruin-the-drug-trade
Smoking joint photo from Verywell Family: https://www.verywellfamily.com/teen-drug-use-warning-signs-2606192
#drugism #drugs #legalize #publichealth #joebiden #biden #drugpolicy #savelives #fentanyl #cannabis #methamphetamine #opioids #news #politics #chomsky