Thursday, December 31, 2015

Heroin in Wisconsin

We have recently passed a bunch of laws to curtail heroin use in Wisconsin.  How noble.  Unfortunately they will do nothing to curtail the use and abuse of heroin.  Creating a database of everyone with a prescription for synthetic opium will not stop abuse.  Neither will the requirement to show an id.  The numbers are pretty clear that it is both easier and cheaper to get real heroin.  About all that this law will do is be a major inconvenience for law abiding citizens attempting to get their legal prescriptions.  I will give some credit to allowing a greater use of Narcan which will reduce overdose deaths.  A real solution would involve doing stuff and spending money on things that Republicans just can't even comprehend.  Like maybe we should figure out why the use of this drug is on the rise.  Everyone knows that heroin is bad for you, why are more and more people turning to it?  Maybe we could invest in treatment rather than incarceration and creating databases.  Once again a terribly misguided policy and waste of taxpayer money.