DISCLAIMER: What follows is just a collection of random thoughts, mainly the result of my increased cynicism with regard to the drug laws. I apologize if it’s not terribly well organized or structured, but I just wanted to vent. If the mods want to move it to GD please do so and I’ll try to
assume a more formal style of debate.
OK, I’m no great fan of Robert Downey Jr., and I don’t dispute that his addiction to cocaine is ultimately the result of the choice he made to use. I also don’t advocate using cocaine. But I do dispute the typical statements of drug warriors to the effect that the victims of his crime were everyone else in society. To them I say: Yes, I agree that consensual crimes should remain crimes in cases where anyone involved is too young or legally incompetent to grant consent. But no, I don’t think I have been victimized by his drug use. I don’t think he violated my rights by using drugs. And no, I don’t accept the idea that if someone living in the next block is using drugs, but is not in any way adversely affecting you, that your rights are being violated.
And what about the TV writer, whose name I don’t remember, who was arrested for “illegal mushrooms”? As far as I know he was about to leave from Burbank Airport on a domestic flight. Yet his luggage was sniffed out by drug dogs. Are we now supposed to be susceptible to searching at any goddamn time, even when not returning from abroad, all in the name of Drug Free America?
As we see celebrity after celebrity going through the arraignment mill, and we hear about the consequences of poor choices and irresponsibility. As I see it, these people did, ultimately, become addicted to their drugs by choice. But they did not become addicted to criminality by choice. They’re breaking the drug laws, but the drug laws are also breaking them, all in the name of Drug Free America.
That’s what you say mouth… right now I’m going through wicked shakes. I need at least 4 mushrooms a day to keep functional in society. WHERE ARE MY FUCKING MUSHROOMS!!!
A sniff by drug dogs is not a search, at least not as the phrase is used in the Constitution. Your privacy is not violated – that is, no one’s right to privacy includes breaking the law, and that’s all the drug dog’s reaction will tell the cops. They won’t expose your collection of latex vibrators, your stash of nude pics of Ernest Borgnine, or your Lyndon Larouche campaign button collection.
Undoubtedly, many reaosnable people feel that the drug laws are either completely unneccessary, or draconian in the extreme. Other reasonable people feel that they’re appropriate. In light of the fact that this country is a representative republic, all we need to do is convince enough of a vocal minority to agitate for their removal, and they’ll be removed.
If they’renot, you may safely conclude that enough people want drugs to be illegal that they should stay illegal.
The writer in question is Aaron Sorkin, who is mostly known for writing the award-winning West Wing episodes (along with several other successful endeavours). He is not only charged with possession of the hallucinogenic mushrooms, but also with possession of crack cocaine and marijuana. He has admitted previous addiction to cocaine in 1995.
I really think they oughta get Robert Downey Jr. to do publis service announcements now, not ten or fifteen years from now when he’s cleaned up. They always use these celebrities who basically say “While doing drugs I was catapulted to the top of my field, had fame, fortune, and practically constant sex, and I never got caught. But all that would have been even better if I hadn’t been snorting coke.” Instead they need to have Downey up thier saying “I cannot stop snorting coke. I simply cannot do it. I am a smart guy. I have access to the best treeatment centers in the world. I could make millions and millions of dollars over the next few years and retire weathy beyond avarice if I could just stop getting high, and even knowing all that, I cannot stop. Think you will be able to?”
I agree Manda. Nobody thinks they’ll ever get ‘that bad’. Always loved the folks who thought the ‘problem’ was that they were just ‘doing too much’ (fill in name of drug here), and several trips to jail/rehab, still seemed to think they could control it (not saying everyone gets addicted, but those who are tend to not be able in the future to handle “casual use”).
Manda JO: I think Robert Downey Jr. said that very thing, in slightly different words, to the judge during his arraignment. I just read a bit of a quote from him: “It’s like I have a gun in my mouth, and I love the taste of the gun-metal.” Some folks just can’t stop.
My question is what should happen to Robert Downey Jr. in the criminal justice system. He has had every chance they have…probation, court ordered treatment (numerous times), jail time, prison sentence…nothing works for this guy.
So…do we just declare we lost the drug war and legalize all controlled substances, thus saving Mr. Downey from having to deal with the legal consequences of his actions? Or do we just lock him up again, which may get his attention, keep him clean for awhile, and make him want to change?
I think Sorkin is in a whole different boat, because (i believe) this is his first criminal offense. More intriguing is what do you do with someone like Downey who just won’t change.
I have never liked the “you just have to want to” model of addiction recovery. To me, what addiction is is the inability to want something that you rationally know is better for you: There are many people who want to stop dong something, they know that stopping doing whatever it is is the the better thing to do, but they can’t make their gut want it. That inabilty to shape your gut is the cause of addiction, so saying “you can stop being addicted when you really want to” is like saying “You can stop being addicted when you aren’t addicted anymore.” Nicotene is nothing compared to hard drugs, but when I quit smoking, I didn’t want to–I cried about it, I mourned the loss like a death in the family, not haveing my 3 packs a day was a source of great grief to me, but I knew that what my gut wanted was not important–I had to quit (in response to the death of a friend’s mom from lung cancer).
I also don’t like the idea that addiction, and recovering from addiction, works the same for everybody. For some people, perhaps an emotional shift occurs and they want to quit in thier guts in a way that never happened to me, but from what I have seen, the path of recovering from addiction varies widely from person to person and you can’t extrapolate yor own experiences to everyone.
As far as people like Downey go, I have no idea what to do. If they happen to be multi-millionares, it is easier: either move somewqhere where no one cares, or hire a babysitter to follow you around and stick you witha cattle prod everytime you get tempted. For the people with addictions that strong who have 3 kids and no resources? Hell if I know.
The drug war is already lost in a sense, because if they were really forced to think through just how intrusive into the lives of everyone–innocent as well as guilty–a truly successful drug war would have to be, I assert that most people wouldn’t want it. We’d just about have to recruit civilian block wardens to spy on the neighbors in their area, similar to what Cuba has, or is supposed to have had…local party officials who kept tabs on all the local neighbors.
As for Downey, we all agree that he is addicted, but what some people overlook is what being addicted means. The addict doesn’t have the capacity to make rational choices, where the use of the drug is concerned. He is compelled to score and use, and using isn’t just an option, it’s the only course the addict can pursue. As non-addicts, most of us expected Robert Downey to continue his recovery and turn his back on drugs, especially since he seemed to have his career back on track. But that’s just the problem. Addicts and non-addicts look at the same situation very differently.
Add in the fact that drugs are illegal, and you have a situation where the addict is compelled not only to use, but
ipso facto to break the law as well. As a result he becomes a compulsive criminal as well as a compulsive user, and I don’t think that’s a very productive approach. Relapses are
a part of the recovery process, and Robert Downey obviously has a long way to go. If he is committed to prison because of his latest relapse, it would only accelerate his alienation from his family and colleagues, and he’d probably never recover.
The drug war is already lost in a sense, because if they were really forced to think through just how intrusive into the lives of everyone–innocent as well as guilty–a truly successful drug war would have to be, I assert that most people wouldn’t want it. We’d just about have to recruit civilian block wardens to spy on the neighbors in their area, similar to what Cuba has, or is supposed to have had…local party officials who kept tabs on all the local neighbors.
UNQUOTE
No war against anything will ever be truly successful. The war against murders hasnt worked…close to 40 percent if not more are unsolved every year. The war against rape hasnt worked…a majority of rapes aren’t even reported. We could easily decrease crime with videotapes in every house and big brother, but there is a social balance struck between the desire to solve crimes and a person’s need for privacy. The war on drugs is only one facet of the war on crime.
As for Mr. Downey, he continues to break the law…what should we do with him?Say…oh its not your fault Robbie, you’re an addict…we wont punish you. That is all well and good for the first few times he’s arrested. Get treatment…go on probation…well…maybe a little time in jail will get your attention. Nothing has worked. Do we do what is advocated for the war on drugs and just give up? OK, you’ve lost Mr. Downey…see ya in a gutter somewhere, and never mind if you break the law again.