Addiction widespread, thanks to government

Kikani is a fourth-year political science student with a minor
in public policy.

By Saurabh Kikani

The U.S. Government helps sell crack cocaine to children. At
least, that is one of the arguments being presented by Steven
Soderbergh’s provocative new film,
“Traffic.”Â Many of you have probably heard of the
new film. It is generating quite a bit of critical buzz. It is
an angry, political film, which is strongly critical of the United
States’ drug policy.

Another great film was released earlier this year to massive
critical praise, and is in many ways a close cousin to
“Traffic.”Â That film is “Requiem for a
Dream.”Â Both films are strong Oscar contenders, and both
focus on different aspects of the drug problem in America. They are
both powerful films that have some important things to say about
drug addiction and drug policy.

“Traffic” holds a mirror up to our
government’s “war on drugs,” and reveals a
crooked, failing and misguided attempt to stop the exponentially
increasing influx of drugs. The film argues that the policies being
implemented by the government are actually acting as a
price-support system for the drug trade.

Illustration by RODERICK ROXAS/Daily Bruin The U.S. government
throws every textbook “solution” it has toward the
problem ““ harsher punishments for selling, harsher
punishments for using ““ but is to afraid to offer the real
solutions ““ increased awareness, prevention programs and
pursuing drug addiction as a health policy issue. Instead, more
money, and then a little more, and then a whole lot more gets
allocated toward all the wrong areas. Consequently, the drug lords
get richer while the drug addicts get higher.

What have all of these efforts yielded? An inordinate amount of
money being devoted to a problem which has only increased in size.
It has increased the number of young drug users. It has increased
the number of drug pushers. It has increased the financial wealth
and power of the very drug lords it was meant to destroy. The U.S.
drug policy is not working. As a young character in the film
states, “It’s easier for kids to get drugs than it is
to buy alcohol.”

The fact is that it remains incredibly easy for just about
anyone to buy drugs. How many people do you know that have some
connection, or friend of a friend, who can somehow always come
through with the proper party stimulants? If one attends a rave,
all you have to do is stand around for two minutes before you meet
a multitude of interesting characters who are selling even more
interesting drugs.

The point is that drugs are here, a strong demand for them
exists, and consequently, they are not going anywhere any time
soon, no matter how much money is put into this failing
process.

So what are we supposed to do about this whole mess? There is no
easy answer. There may not even be an immediate answer. As
“Traffic” and “Requiem for a Dream”
demonstrate, this “war on drugs” is a war that is being
fought in our living rooms, among our family and friends. The
“enemy” could be your parents, your siblings, or your
best friends. The “enemy” could be you.

How can someone view an addict as a criminal when they already
know the individual on a personal level? As another character in
“Traffic” states, “addiction is an allergy of the
body; an obsession of the mind.” Addiction is a health policy
problem. Not a crime. If drugs are decriminalized, it helps take
away a lot of the profit incentive for the drug lords who produce
these drugs. Prohibition-era gangsters would not have made a dime,
nor risen to the power that they did, if alcohol had not been
illegal all along. When people want something, they will get it,
legal or illegal. And there will always be people ready to sell it
to you, legally or illegally.

Drugs are linked to crime because they are illegal. This allows
dealers to dictate price in a very profitable underground market.
Addicts rob and steal because they think they have to. A policy
which addresses these issues, rather than dealing with how to stop
the never-ending supply of drugs from entering the country, is
bound for better success than previous efforts. The problem lies in
the fact that politicians do not want to appear soft on drugs, the
scourge of our society, even if they know that current policies are
utterly useless.

In the end, more drugs get in, more people get high on a
habitual basis and the drug cartels make more money. Our political
representatives are too scared to give us the obvious truth: the
war on drugs cannot be won.

What does it all come down to? Us. We have to wonder why we have
such a ridiculous drug problem in this country. Why do so many
people feel the need to have the warm rush of chemicals coursing
through their veins on a regular basis? Drug dealers wouldn’t
exist if there wasn’t such a high demand for drugs from
ordinary citizens. Surely there is more than one reason, and it
varies from person to person.

Darren Aronofsky’s latest film, “Requiem for a
Dream,” seems to be saying that addiction (to drugs, or
otherwise) can affect anyone, regardless of age, sex, race, or
economic background. The film presents the world through the eyes
of an addict. It is a powerful film which pulls no punches.
Aronofsky seems to be saying that it is human nature to turn to
addiction when the things that we truly want most ““ like
happiness, success, or simple human connection ““ are just out
of reach. Addiction becomes a security blanket of comfort. It is
familiar and it makes you feel “safe,” if only
temporarily. It serves as a substitute for something real.

Have we become a society of individuals that are so disconnected
from one another that the only way we can connect is through a
chemical culture? Media, advertising and modern consumerism may
just have desensitized us to everything. Have we turned into a
culture of individuals whose only mode of human connection is
through a pill, an injection, a puff of smoke, a snort, or a sip of
caffeine?

Perhaps addiction is not just a health issue, but a social issue
as well. It is one thing for record numbers of people to try drugs.
It is another thing to have record numbers of people addicted to
drugs, or habitually using them. We are all responsible, on some
level, for the state of the world today.

It is time to do away with all of the sloganeering and
grandstanding. The politicians need to be honest with us and with
themselves. And so do we. “Traffic” and
“Requiem” address these issues head on. America’s
drug policy is contributing to our isolated, addicted and
desensitized culture. Perhaps it is time for society to wake up
from its drowsy haze and take a good look in the mirror. It’s
time to sober up.