The War On Crack Cocaine -- The Captives Are The Addicts

In 1971 when President Richard Nixon declared his war on drugs crack cocaine was just taking root in the United states. A short decade later it became the most popular drug on the market and suddenly this war had a tangible and reconizeable enemy -- crack cocaine and the pepople who manufacture and sell it.  The same people who have no idea how many millions of lives and communities this highly dangerous and addictive drug has affected in the last 30 years. No idea at all. Mark Houston Recovery deals with some of these affected individuals and the ones they have affected every day. While the fight rages on out in the streets, our battle lies here, at our recovery center, helping individual recovery and regain control of their lives.

Victims of The War On Crack Cocaine -- Arresting The Addicts

The addictive properties of crack continues to be a major cause of people either making a profit on it or ruining their lives over it. As such, crime connected to the drug is constant making the work of local, state and government law enfrocment a challenge. One unfortunate outcome of this battle is that not all drug offenders are dealers or manufacturerers. Many of them are drug addicts committing crimes to feed their habits. According to the Drug Enforecement Agency (DEA), between 2000 and 2006, drug offenders in federal prison jumped 26 percent, to 93,751. An additional 250,000 are incarcerated in state facilities and thousands more sit in local jail cells. Illegal drug use is still a punishable crime but is locking up the users who actually can't quit a solution? Fortunately the government is starting to understand how damaging drugs like crack cocaine are on the body and brain. Addiction, as we at Mark Houston Recovery know, is not about right and wrong. If it was, then there would be no need for a recovery center.

The Crack Cocaine War -- A Change In Strategy

The latest figures show that the federal government is acknowledging this problem. An estimated $13 billion has been set aside  for drug control, treatment and prevention this year. Slowly but surely agencies like the DEA are starting to realize for the users, not the drug traffickers, treatment rather than jail time might be more effective. States around the country are now pooling their efforts to come up with ways to get drug offenders into treatment programs and back to a drug free life. One such program which has been in effect since 2000 is California's Propostion 36 which offers convicted nonviolent drug offenders family counseling and job training in addition to treatment. As more an more states continue their efforts to help drug addicts rather than just punish them, perhaps the battle will become a little less difficult. Mark Houston Recovery will continue our battle ... one resident at time.