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Date: November 22, 2024 Fri
Time: 12:17 pm
Time: 12:17 pm
Results for drug policy (new york state, u.s.)
1 results foundAuthor: Pugh, Tracy Title: Blueprint for a Public Health and Safety Approach to Drug Policy Summary: Some of the problems with our current drug policies stem from the fact that these policies have been largely bifurcated between two different and often contradictory approaches. One treats drug use as a crime that cannot be tolerated and should be punished; the other views addiction as a chronic relapsing health or behavioral condition requiring ongoing treatment and support. Neither of these views is all encompassing—it should be recognized that there are patterns of drug use that do not result in significant harm or health problems and therefore require no intervention. The public health approach presented here takes the view that our focus should be on the harm caused by drug use and the harm caused by our policy responses to it. We have focused specifically on illicit drugs, not because they are by themselves more harmful (in fact, tobacco causes more morbidity and mortality than any illicit drug), but because it has become increasingly clear that our current policies to manage illicit drugs are failing. Drug policy in New York is further complicated by multiple actors that all play some role in preventing or responding to drug use. Without a unified framework and better coordination, they often work at cross-purposes. For instance, while New York has grown its network of innovative harm reduction, drug treatment, and alternative-to-incarceration programs, it has also been aggressive in policing and penalizing the same population that accesses these services for possession of drugs and syringes and for relapses. The result is a system that is not working well for anyone. Drug use and its associated harms continue, and our policy responses have resulted in the mass incarceration of New Yorkers, increased racial disparities, stigmatization of individuals and whole subpopulations, fragmented families, deep distrust between police and the communities they serve, and millions of dollars in costs during times of both economic prosperity and, more recently, fiscal crisis. In an era of limited resources, we simply can no longer afford to keep doing what we have been doing when our actions have shown to be largely ineffective and even detrimental: • Drug use affects New Yorkers. The New York State Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services (OASAS) estimates that one in 13 New York State residents suffers from a substance abuse condition. An estimated 447,000 people in New York State need treatment but do not get it.1 Statewide, over 1.8 million New Yorkers (1.77 million adults and 156,000 young people ages 12-17) have a substance abuse condition.2 Many more are affected by the drug use of a family member, friend, or colleague. • Incarceration has proven ineffective at reducing drug use. With one in every 100 U.S. adults now in prison and many more involved in the criminal justice system,3 incarceration is increasingly seen as an important public health issue and as a social determinant of health that exacerbates existing health disparities.4-5 In 2011, there were 104,897 adult drug arrests overall in New York City—21,149 were felony arrests and 83,748 were misdemeanors.6 That same year, the New York City Police Department made over 50,000 arrests for marijuana possession7 yet overall rates of drug use, including marijuana, have remained relatively stable.8 • Our drug policies are driving unacceptable racial disparities in our criminal justice system. Despite the relative consistency in the prevalence of drug use across races, the vast majority of those arrested and incarcerated for drug offenses are people of color. In New York City in 2011, more than 85 percent of those arrested for marijuana possession were Black and Latino, mostly young men,9 even though young white males use marijuana at comparable, if not higher, rates.10 • Illicit drug use and our current policy responses to it are costly and require a revised approach. The economic cost of illicit drug use to the U.S. is estimated to be more than $193 billion annually. 11 The average annual cost of incarceration to New York tax payers is estimated at $3.6 billion.12 As incarceration has increased substantially over the last 40 years, illicit drug use has not seen a substantial reduction. New York is poised for change. There is much momentum to move our drug policies toward a public health-based approach. At the local level, communities around the state are actively calling for a new approach. They are challenging criminal justice-dominated strategies for dealing with drug use—such as stop, question, and frisks leading to arrests for low-level marijuana possession—and mass incarceration. At the policy level, New York in 2009 became one of the first and biggest states in the country to move away from the harsh mandatory sentencing laws that characterized drug policy in the U.S. throughout much of the past four decades. The significant reform to the Rockefeller Drug Laws was advanced by a historic conference held at NYAM in January 2009. The conference, called New Directions New York: A Public Health Safety Approach to Drug Policy, helped to delineate a public health and safety approach as a clear alternative to existing policy. The conference made clear that a wide array of community, government, health, and other stakeholders agree that at the center of all our drug policies whether addressing legal or illicit drugs—should be the question, “What impact will our policies have on the public’s health and safety?” This Blueprint seeks to outline an approach that responds to this question using the best evidence available coupled with the input of hundreds of New Yorkers. Details: New York: New York Academy of Medicine, 2013. 100p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed May 1, 2013 at: http://www.nyam.org/assets/3371_DPA_NYAM_Report_FINAL_for_WEB_v2.pdf Year: 2013 Country: United States URL: http://www.nyam.org/assets/3371_DPA_NYAM_Report_FINAL_for_WEB_v2.pdf Shelf Number: 128583 Keywords: Drug Abuse and AddictionDrug Abuse TreatmentDrug OffendersDrug Policy (New York State, U.S.) |