Many say we must do something about the opiate crisis. But House Bill 86 is not a solution but is an extension of the U.S. government’s failed war on drugs. The 1920s prohibition against alcohol did not curb the public’s desire for alcohol but did cause a rise in organized crime. Alcohol won the war. Government’s war against marijuana raged from the 1930s and, like alcohol, marijuana won. The war on drugs focused on cocaine in the 1970s and methamphetamines in the 1980s. While these substances have not been legalized, cocaine remains in use. Meth use continues to rise. Organized crime is flourishing by peddling these illegal substances. The failed government war on drugs extended to opiates focuses the strategy on physicians and their pain patients, most of whom are innocent of any intent of wrongdoing and should not be criminalized. This current phase of the war on drugs will fail because as with alcohol, marijuana, cocaine and meth, government cannot stop people from seeking their substances of choice no matter how many laws and regulations are passed. This type of strategy must be rejected as it will fail the stated purpose and hurt innocent people in the process.
Julie Dockery
Kalispell