ABSTRACT: The analysis of the failure of the prohibitionist strategy on drugs in the U.S.

(Radical News n. 200 of 31 August 1987 from "Il Manifesto" of 22 August 1987)

Marco Pannella has once again raised the question of prohibition on drugs, and the debate has started at once. One of the crucial problems is the one that concerns the effectiveness of the prohibitionist strategy. To what extent does such strategy achieve the objectives it sets itself? And above all, to what extent does it help to protect the consumers from the consequences of drug misuse?

In the U.S., we have been witnessing a warlike escalation "against drugs" conducted by President Reagan with a great deal of financial resources and with drastic limitations of civil rights. The results of the "war on drugs", in the crude language of figures, can be drawn from a (reserved) governmental document.

A publication of the Nida (National Institute on Drug Abuse) on the "Community Epidemiology Work Group Proceedings" of December 1986 analyses the situation and the trend of drug phenomenon in the U.S. in 1986. The document contains the figures relative to the main metropolitan areas. It can therefore be considered as a plausible survey of the global situation.

Because the document provides many figures and data relative to past years, until the early eighties, we can effectively evaluate the consequences of Reagan's war on drugs, which was launched in precisely in that period.

Briefly, the characteristics of Reagan's strategy, which is similar to the strategy advocated by the conservatives of other countries (including our own), can thus be summarized. a) increase of penalties for possession or traffic; b) drastic restriction of trial guaranties; c) reduction of recovery programs with methadone and other substitutive substances; d) tendency to forced detoxication; e) mass screening; f) non-discrimination between different substances; g) aggressive and terrorist propaganda on the effects of the substances; h) discrimination of researchers and operators who do not share the dominant ideology.

The figures that emerge from the NIDA document shall be analysed separately, according to the three most diffused illegal substances: cannabis, cocaine, heroin.

Cannabis

In all the areas analysed, there seems to be a reduction of the availability of marijuana on the market, together with an increase in prices. According to the authors, the phenomenon is a consequence of the repressive actions (especially those on cultivations) carried out, and of the transfer of traffickers to the sector of hard drugs, which are "more profitable and manageable". (Nida: Community Epidemiology Work Group Proceedings, December 1986. Usdhhs, page 1-12). It is easy to imagine that precisely repression has pushed the traffickers toward cocaine, attracted "by the high profits and by the greater smuggling facility" (page 11-99). The phenomenon was reported in the areas of New York City, Minneapolis, St. Louis and Miami, where many pushers passed to crack (p. 11-86). It is possible that the diffusion of tests (which can detect the use of cocaine used in the three previous days and the use of cannabis several weeks previously) induced consumers to switch to cocaine. The indiscriminate nature of the r

epression is proved by the fact that the arrests for marijuana are still prevalent in certain areas over those relative to other drugs (Atlanta, New Orleans, Texas - with peaks of 56%).

Cocaine

For cocaine, in most areas researchers have noticed an increase in availability (Atlanta, Chicago, Detroit, Miami, New Jersey, St. Louis, Seattle, Minneapolis) and a reduction in prices. A special case is represented by Miami, where the price for cocaine passed from $30.000 to $17.000 a kilo between 1985 and 1986 (p. 1-12). In New Jersey, the substance "is more easily available than marijuana" (p. 2-111). An increase in consumption has been found in New Jersey, St. Louis, Seattle, Minneapolis. An increase in cases of abuse have been found in Atlanta, Chicago, Miami, New Orleans, San Diego, San Francisco and New York City. An increase in mortality in Miami, Phoenix, San Francisco and a diminution in San Diego. Abuse and mortality are mostly linked to the use of paste and crack. In Texas, the cases of abuse concern "only a small percentage" of those who sniff the substance (p. 2-18). On the other hand, "with cocaine more than with heroin, it is important to make a distinction between use and abuse. Consumers

who have no problems related to abuse represent the vast majority in San Francisco" (p. 2-179). Researchers also noticed a generalized increase in the use of stimulating amphetamines (p. 1).

Obviously, the repressive actions sensationally launched by President Reagan in the U.S. and in Latin America have not prevented a massive inflow of cheap, top-quality cocaine (an increase in purity has been noticed in New Orleans, District Columbia and New York City).

Heroin

Over the past years, it had become a commonplace that heroin represented a fading problem in the U.S. Such opinion had been shared also by many experts. Surprisingly, the Nida data prove the contrary.

First of all, a new type of heroin, coming from Mexico, called Black Tar has reached the U.S. market in 1985. This type of heroin is very difficult to sophisticate it, and it is very pure, up to 85 per cent, versus 2-5 per cent of the street heroin that can be found in the U.S. lately (p.1-1). As a consequence, an increase in the influence of heroin in the market has been recorded in New York City, Chicago, Phoenix, San Diego and Los Angeles. Prices tend to be stable, and there is an increased availability in Phoenix, St. Louis, San Diego and Seattle. An increase in consumption has been noticed in St. Louis and Seattle, while the situation is stable in Miami and Boston.

What appears to be most significant is the increase in mortality recorded in almost all areas. A comprehensive picture of the situation in 24 metropolitan areas (excluding New York City) compares the data of the second semester of 1981 with the first semester of 1986: a period of time which corresponds almost exactly to Reagan's war on drugs. On the whole, the cases of death rise from 365 to 705 (p.3.28). The data relative to the evolution over the past years are also significant.

In New York City there have been 427 deaths in 1984, 453 in 1985, and an increase is scheduled (but not quantified) for 1986 (p. 2-125). In Texas there have been 21 deaths in 1981, 32 in 1982, 42 in 1983, 67 in 1984, 89 in 1985 (p. 2-17). In Detroit, 136 deaths in 1983, 169 in 1984, 217 in 1985, 234 (scheduled) for 1986 (p. 2-28). In San Antonio 6 deaths in 1984, 63 in 1985, 108 (scheduled) in 1986 (p. 3-30). In San Diego, 62 deaths in 1984, 63 in 1985, 108 (scheduled) in 1986 (p. 3-30). In Phoenix, 13 deaths in 1984, 35 in 1985, 56 (scheduled) in 1986 (p. 3-30). In San Francisco, 43 deaths in the fiscal year 1984, 83 in 1985, 135 in 1986 (p-2-180). In Columbia District, 71 deaths in 1983, 144 in 1985, 139 (scheduled) in 1986 (p. 2-202). In Los Angeles, 90 deaths in 1981, 252 in 1982, 255 in 1983, 271 in 1984, 365 in 1985, 300 (scheduled) in 1986 (p.3-30). The increase in mortality si particularly significant if compared to the reduction of the number of drug users (and of the relative mortality) recorded at

the end of the seventies, corresponding with President Carter's "tolerant" policy. Obviously, the repressive measures have not been capable of affecting a black market which, on the contrary, offers more powerful products without increasing prices. On the other hand, it is likely that the limitation in the methadone supply and the increasing criminalization of heroin users has lead many of them to fall prey to the black market, with the consequences that ensue.

The global increase of mortality is not pointed out in the document's summary. Over the past years, the Nida has shown to largely share the government's policy. Because the war on drugs obsessively concentrates on marijuana and cocaine, and ignores heroin almost totally (an attitude which is evident in the media as well), it is legitimate to suspect that this omission is suggested by political convenience.