We Fucked Up The End Game.

After forty years of ‘The War’ on illicit drugs what have we discovered in relation to power, social harm and the relationship between the global and the local? 

“Therefore to have servants is power; to have friends is power: for they are strengths united. Also, riches joined with liberality is power; because it procureth friends and servants: without liberality, not so; because in this case they defend not, but expose men to envy, as a prey. Reputation of power is power; because it draweth with it the adherence of those that need protection. So is reputation of love of a man’s country, called popularity, for the same reason” (Hobbes, 1651).  Social harm (inequality, discrimination and poverty) and power has been at the fore of many global and local social policy decisions made by states, governments and institutions throughout the 20^th century. The War on drugs via laws and policies was initially intended to make this world (and America) a safer place to live in.  This essay examines the War on Drugs, UK Drug policies and selective research which will consider and make use of concepts, evidence and policy and highlighting their affect on society at a local and global level.  This essay also discusses how the concept of the War on Drugs is entangled, linked and married to social welfare, crime control and criminal Justice and is used as a powerful tool by politicians and policymakers when defending the just cause of war.  This essay asks the question is today’s war on drugs a modern day ‘Vietnam’ waged by nation states upon it’s people and after forty years of ‘The War’ on illicit drugs how much has society at a local and global level benefited from it? 

The defining literature.

The policy document used in this essay is the UK Drugs Strategy 2002 which opens up the debate whereby the Secretary of State (2002) states “The Drugs Strategy covers numerous areas of policy, but the clear overall aim must be to reduce the harm drugs cause.  Key to this aim is a clear focus on reducing problematic drug use educating and protecting the young.  Further expanding services, improving quality and building lessons learnt about what works will achieve this.” As opposed to Gyngell (2006-2010) who states “The previous “labour governments drug policy priority was to get as many ‘problem drug users’ (heroin and crack cocaine addicts) into treatment as [fast] as possible to reduce drug related crime and other harms associated with their drug use (Gyngell, 2006-2010).”  Critical authors such as Shiner (2003) suggest that “the UK constructs its drugs policy on a medical basis which considers levels of harm, perceived dangerousness and propensity to addiction.  While American reforms campaigned for a more British approach, in the world of realpolitik the process of transatlantic policy transfer appeared to be working in the opposite direction. … According to Stimson (1987) the character of British drugs policy changed so profoundly during the 1980’s that it could be meaningfully characterised in terms of a war on drugs.  The outcome of this was an emphasis on punitiveness (Shiner 2003).”  Similarly Dorn and South (1990) state that the UK drugs policy favours a punitive and social control approach to individuals who abuse drugs.  Dorn suggest that the markets are better organised and even if there is not a monopoly of a few suppliers there is in fact a more professional and organised approach to the supply of illicit drugs.  Whilst Ballantyne (2007) considers how Opiates were a common sight in chemists, doctors and opium dens at the turn of the century but it was only when they became regulated by “‘The Drug Enforcement Act in the UK (1920) and the Harrison Act in the US (1918)’” where they stigmatised and in a similar way to the later introduction of prohibition a highly lucrative and profitable illicit drug trade emerged.  The bigger question may be whether regulations have succeeded at all in controlling drug misuse, but the more immediate question for doctors in the US and elsewhere is how they should control their own prescribing so that interference by regulators does not discourage appropriate medical use of opiates (Ballantyne, 2007).”

Alternatively Michael C. Ruppert (2004) fascinating book explores and illuminates via investigative journalism how the globalisation of the planet, global economies and the dealings of governments are inextricably linked with the legal and illegal supply of drugs.  This marriage not only causes social harm and violence but demonstrates the hypocrisy of criminal justice and the flouting of the rule of law at a local and global level.  This topic has been addressed in policy terms in Schaffer (2001) who states that “nation states do ‘the minimum’ required to meet their obligations.” When considering policy in relation to the course themes it is relevant to clarify that DD301 Course Materials (2009) are organised around three themes of ‘power’, ‘harm and violence’ and ‘relations between the local and global’ and are used to consider how “there is a strong argument, therefore, that a conception of crime, without a conception of power, is meaningless; in particular , a social harm perspective allows us to explore wider considerations of responsibility for economic and geographical inequalities, injustices and exclusions and requires analysis of the role of government and corporations in their perpetration; the global free-trade market has produced a series of ‘uncontrollable’ economic forces that have shifted power, influence and authority away from the nation state and towards ‘external’ transnational capital.  This has placed fiscal and political limitations on the type of welfare, social policy and criminal justice policy that individual states can support (Companion 1, pp. 16-18).”

What is the war what is the war on drugs?

“War is a phenomenon which occurs only between political communities, defined as those entities which either are states or intend to become state. Classical war is international war, a war between different states... Certain political pressure groups, like terrorist organizations, might also be considered “political communities,” in that they are associations of people with a political purpose...” So, what is statehood?  Max Weber suggests “A nation is a group which thinks of itself as “a people,” usually because they share many things in common, such as ethnicity, language, culture, historical experience, a set of ideals and values, habitat, cuisine, fashion and so on. The state, by contrast, refers much more narrowly to the machinery of government which organizes life in a given territory. Thus, we can distinguish between the American state and the American people…” (Orend, B. 2008).  This essay suggests that the very concept of society in democracy must involve the diversity and impartiality of governance by the state over ‘all’ citizens. Furthermore, Clausewitz (1874) suggests that war is “the continuation of policy by other means… war is about governance, using violence instead of peaceful measures to resolve policy (which organizes life in a land) [and war is defined as] an act of violence intended to compel our opponent to fulfil our will (Clausewitz, 1874).” Richard Nixon created the concept in the public psyche that a drug user was the epitome of all that was wrong with society, the sole perpetrator of much of the causation of social harm and the main violator of the many facets of crime and criminality related to and with drug use.  In the early seventies the ‘war on drugs was seen as a viable way of addressing social harm at local and global level, public perception was not as informed as it is today, and this enabled the power of the state to construct an enhanced collection of self serving political policies alongside a continues subliminal rhetoric fuelled by media which condemned the drug user into the socially and morally repugnant label of ‘criminal.’  The idea of a ‘war’ is to inflict as much violence upon the enemy for as short a time as possible to inflict maximum damage resulting in the annihilation of the threat but the state needs to be wary of declaring war on its own citizens as Machiavelli states “For, although one may be very strong in armed forces, yet in entering a province one has always need of the goodwill of the natives (Machiavelli, 1532).” 

Nixon cleverly declared this war on drugs on the population of America to further his political ambition and this essay suggest that the statement that follows by William J. Casey signed and endorsed by Nixon belays the consideration of the citizen, be it global or local to the injustice of state sanctioned violence on its own population:

“Freedom is a precious commodity.  The amount of freedom you enjoy is a result of the amount of vigilance you invest.

My actions may be recorded as criminal condemning countless Americans to drug dependency.  I don’t care.  All wars produce casualties.  Generally the more violent the war.  The shorter the length.  My choice was either to stare down a protracted cold war guerrilla insurgency in Latin America or use the means available to finance and wage a war of short duration for democracy.  The tool is cocaine.  The trick is to understand that the drug user had the freedom to make a choice.  They choose the drug.  I choose to use their habit to finance the democracy that all Americans enjoy.  To keep those Americans safe from the communist threat knocking on our back door in Latin America.  For a change the drug user will contribute to society.

I declare under penalty of perjury that the above facts are true and correct to the best of my knowledge and belief (Dowbenko, 1999).”

This chilling ‘lawful’ statement “my actions may be recorded as criminal condemning countless Americans to drug dependency.  I don’t care.” suggests that Casey’s actions may be considered criminal but also highlights a shift from the cause of crime to the label of criminal was made fifteen years after Richard Nixon declared his war on drugs.  This 1986 declaration is at odds with current recognised policy and the UK drug policy of (2002) clearly states that “work at community level will be expanded with a clearer focus on reducing drug related crime, empowering individuals and communities and regenerating neighbourhoods.  We will address the major gap identified in the strategy – aftercare.  Those leaving prison or treatment need help back into the community and employment if they are to remain free from drugs.”  This essay suggests that he actually declares war on America, his own political community/electorate and the moral justness of war so widely used today was not substantiated then and is still not today as the state was actually trying to eradicate opposition the ‘Vietnam war’ by targeting social protest in the form of firstly hippies, then the black panthers and ultimately the youth of America who he originally said he was trying to protect.  The fact that the Cold war and provision of freedom from communism by the American state opens up a complex and inextricably linked association behind the politics, power, social harm at a global and local level justify the reasons of Wars in different countries, in this case Afghanistan.  This essay considers the idea that getting involved with the Russian invasion of Afghanistan was a strategic move which allowed ‘justification’, policies, funding and political gain of a continued war on illicit drugs condemning the world to a perpetual set of social harms and creation of criminal justice systems both locally and globally that not only devastated communities but fed the power of the state via the industry of war. In 1980, a US senator Charlie Wilson initiated a response to the soviet invasion of Afghanistan which started out with funding of CIA operations at $1 million but increased the CIA budget for its Afghan operation to an unprecedented amount – In 1983, he won an additional $40 million, $17 million and in 1984, CIA asked Wilson for $50 million more.  “Wilson succeeded in giving the Afghans $300 million of unused Pentagon money before the end of the fiscal year.”  When the soviets left defeated in 1994 Wilson could not get $1 million to build schools and aid with infrastructure he famously said “we came and we achieved great thing but we fucked up the end game (Wikipedia, 2013).”  It is important to recognise the war on drugs is not simply about production and control of opium in Afghanistan but that is being fought at many different levels in countries across the globe; more recently in Mexico and Columbia and this leads this is to consider if the war is being won. 

Is the war being won – the yes camp and the no camp? 

Are Drug users victims of their environment or of their own personal vice or have they become a politically motivated post war tool that is manipulated to feed social and welfare policies, crime control and criminal justice at local and global level.  During Nixon’s administration the idea was formed that addicts/abusers had a moral choice if they partook of drugs and the rational decision making is the basis of the forming of criminal laws against society’s expectations.  If the basis of founding these laws are poorly informed at conception then how are they still in operation today.  There is much discourse across political dialogue surrounding the many policies involving rehabilitation, methadone, needle sharing and more specifically early intervention involving:

“Vulnerable children and ‘those at risk of criminality’, including those whose parents are in prison and/or among the 300,000 problem drug abusers, are to be ‘actively case managed’ by Children’s Trust social services staff and youth justice workers from ‘the earliest possible point’. Universal checks on every child throughout his or her development to help ‘service providers’ identify those most at risk of offending throughout their development, including at 11 when they go to secondary school. Preventative programmes to tackle social exclusion, drugs and alcohol abuse. (Source: The Guardian, 28 March 2007 Boo2 p 128 Early intervention).” 

This been used in policy for years but what are the actual success rates.  Gyngell (2006-2010) states that the previous “labour governments drug policy priority was to get as many ‘problem drug users’ (heroin and crack cocaine addicts) into treatment as [fast] as possible to reduce drug related crime and other harms associated with their drug use”.  “The conviction that harm reduction treatment is a pragmatic and ‘evidence based’ public health policy…that must be extended to the entire ‘problem drug using population’ has driven an unprecedented investment into treatment over the past 10 years.”  The current UK policy states that “we believe drugs policy should primarily be addressed to dealing with the 250,000 problematic drug users rather than towards the large numbers whose drug use poses no serious threat either to their own well being or to that of others… the annual economic cost of class A drugs in England and Wales are between £10.1 and £17.4 billion.  Problematic drug users account for around 99% of these costs (Secretary of State, 2002).”  The figures are staggering but do they give proper representation of the true scale of the ‘problematic drug user’ especially when more recent research demonstrates that at least 10% of the UK’s population suffers from ‘addictive personalities’, a medical condition whereby people become addicted to ‘anything’ be it drugs alcohol, chocolate or religion.  Russell Brand presented to the UK Home Affairs Select Committee in 2012 that out of ten people taking drink or drug for the first time at least one will become addicted because of this medical disorder, “this condition of addiction is a health issue as opposed to a judicial and criminal issue and that there should be complete abstinence from state sponsored opiates such as methadone (Brand, 2012).” 

Therefore, the figures used in the policy suggest that there is an alarming problem costing the country economic damage but by criminalising it further the costs of criminal justice, policing, courts and prisons making the figure significantly higher.  Consider a drug courier who gets caught with 1K of  Cocaine entering the UK at cost of £12,000 per kilo, with an upper end street value set by HMC&E of £84,000, receives a twelve year prison sentence where the custodial part of the sentence alone costs £500,000.  Stephen Mason (2009) states that “the problem with the War on Drugs is that it creates far more harm than it eliminates. If drugs can’t be kept out of prisons, how can you possibly keep them out of a mostly free society? The “War” won’t go away because by now it’s become a major industry. It creates jobs on one side of the law and provides the opportunity for huge financial rewards on the other.” The Schaffer library considers “major cultural shift in attitudes to drugs and their use has occurred in the United Kingdom over the past 30 years. Social attitudes towards drug use have become more nuanced and sophisticated, not only among the young… among adults aged 16-59 twice as many as not regard cannabis as less harmful than alcohol – but the great majority do regard heroin, cocaine, ecstasy and tobacco as particularly harmful. If anything, more people aged 45-59 years saw cannabis as less harmful than alcohol than did those aged 16-24. (http://www.druglibrary.org.)  Ultimately making laws and declaring wars that cannot be justified or enforced only serves to negate public opinion and perception of the state, especially in today’s global information age and introduces Tony Ward’s (2004) notion that “…any political decision can be considered harmful to someone (Ward, 2004)”

What harm does it cause society?

Michael C. Ruppert (2004) considers how the globalisation of the planet, global economies and the dealings of governments are inextricably linked with the legal and illegal supply of drugs.  This marriage not only causes social harm and violence but demonstrates the hypocrisy of criminal justice and the flouting of the rule of law at a local and global level. How much does the United States spend fighting the war on drugs? The annual US budget is approximately $12.7 billion, with 65% spent on “source control,” or supply control, and 35% going toward treatment and prevention (about twice as much is spent on treatment than prevention), disruption of the supply market consists of $721.5 million will be spent in the Andean region, $297.4 million for counter-narcotic programs in Afghanistan, and $152.4 million targeted at customs and border-patrol operations Office of National Drug Control Policy (Wikipedia).  Ruppert (2004) states “the amount of money generated by the drug trade, if it is known with any accuracy, is probably one of the most closely guarded secrets in the world” (Rupert, 2004, p.57).  Even though Afghanistan is recognised as the main source of opium and the current war in Afghanistan today mirrors what happened with Wilson’s War in the eighties as troops prepare to withdraw whereby:

“Twelve years after the fall of the Taliban, Afghanistan is heading for a near-record opium crop as instability pushes up the amount of land planted with illegal but lucrative poppies, according to a bleak UN report.  Poppy cultivation is not only expected to expand in areas where it already existed in 2012 … Opium traders are often happy to provide seeds, fertilisers and even advance payments to encourage crops, leaving farmers who do not have western or government agricultural help very vulnerable to their inducements. At the same time the more powerful figures in the drugs trade, from traffickers to corrupt government officials, who take over half the profit from each kilo of opium, have shrinking opportunities to earn money from NATO or international aid contracts – and may be preparing a war chest for upcoming presidential and parliamentary elections. If this year’s poppy fields are harvested without disruption, the country would likely regain its status as producer of 90% of the world’s opium. Afghanistan’s share of the deadly market slipped to around 75%.  Eradication programmes that do not provide farmers with benefits such as healthcare and education, and support growing other crops will just push the Taliban or other insurgent groups that do tolerate or encourage poppy production, he added http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013.” 

The indelible image of a bemused Afghani soldier and Afghani farmer in the middle of field is a simple scene but portrays a difficult and complex set of issues.  The farmer states “instead of beating my plants, why don’t you beat me? For God’s sake, give us food and you can take all of this.” (The Open University, 2009d) suggests the farmer and the soldier are unaware at a local level how the power play at global level results in harm and violence between two countrymen fighting over a source of income.  One has orders (the state controlled by global relations) to destroy the crop; the other sees his only source of income being destroyed. This is a complex dynamic as the poppy has always been a culturally specific, secure farming commodity which thrives in an otherwise non-arable and barren environment.  Therefore, at grass roots level the farmer will sell his harvest to the highest bidder – be they legal or illegal – and in recent times it has become abundantly clear that, as the legal control of opium affects global relations, then, whoever has a monopoly on the harvest controls these markets and can then influence power relationships globally. 

This war is not limited to Afghanistan there are also the Mexican and Columbian drugs wars to contend with when combined this is a war being fought on frightening scale at a local and global level and the scale of social harm is difficult to ascertain.  The Mexican problem has been rising significantly over the years and what once was something that consisted of a few nasty gangs has now become a global enterprise ruled over by extreme violence.  Even though there are many atrocities carried out by the cartels, gangs, individuals and states one of the most disturbing issues raised in this research is that the fact that the war on drugs has caused developing countries to implement policy controlling the use of what we in the global north consider everyday pharmaceutical morphine usage as they have become a black market commodity where countries already suffering from social detriment are unable to receive the most basic of healthcare needs. Dr Russell Portenoy (2009) states “Some countries have simply created such a complex system of record keeping and transportation of drugs that the average hospital, the average clinician, can’t get access to them. And in those countries the government would say we’re not limiting access, we’re just controlling distribution (The Open University, 2009d).” Rupert and the course material both suggest that “there are two types of money generated by the drug trade … all stages of growth, manufacturing processing wholesaling and retail trade [and] funding law enforcement, court systems and prisons; prison construction alone costing $30billion dollars a year (Drake, Muncie and Westmarland, 2010, p.50).”  The American experience teaches that over aggressive regulations that ignore legitimate needs for opiates compromise doctors’ ability to treat pain. Ballantyne (2007) states “As the pendulum has swung here between medical underuse and overuse, patients have been harmed. Now that it is becoming clear that the outcome of chronic opioid treatment is often poor, studies are urgently needed to investigate who benefits and under what conditions.  The bigger question may be whether regulations have succeeded at all in controlling drug misuse, but the more immediate question for doctors in the US and elsewhere is how they should control their own prescribing so that interference by regulators does not discourage appropriate medical use of opiates (Ballantyne 2007).”

In conclusion, the war on drugs is a perfect example of how modern day nation states create the self perpetuating and inextricably linked process of criminal justice, punitiveness, politics of law and order and shape them to become a standard party political discourse.  It is this essays view that this tough talking soap box rhetoric is one of the most dangerous social harms to have come to the fore since Nixon declared a ‘war on drugs’ in 1971.  Upon closer analysis this so called just war is a legal use of force on its own population sand is originally contrived and fuelled by the abhorrence of populist media upon a percentage of the population of the USA snowballing from a containable local threat to a national moral dilemma culminating in a global industry. Dorn and South (1990) state that the UK drugs policy favours a punitive and social control approach to individuals who abuse drugs; where markets are better organised and even if there is not a monopoly of a few suppliers there is in fact a more professional and organised approach to the supply of illicit drugs; the UK would be better served if its policies focused more on the responsibilisation of drug markets and re-visited to be less repressive to already socially excluded sections of the community where strict policing strategies contribute to social harm (Dorn and South 1990).  This essay suggest that if the war on drugs has been going on for forty years it is therefore only natural to consider that there are winners and losers but what of the real cost to society when the true economic value of the legal and illegal trades are controlled, manipulated and enforced by the state which never fully divulges the cost of declaring war on its citizens. Why then after so much time and so much money and so much waste of life are there inequalities in these communities and why is there such an obvious drug culture especially when drug addiction is being exposed as medical condition affecting 10% population.  Is it then the case the war on illegal drugs has created a social underclass where a certain section of the community will always be ‘criminal’.

Words 4,385

A reference list.

Ballantyne, J.C. (2007) ‘Regulation of opiod prescribing: over-regulation compromises doctors’ ability to treat pain’, BMJ, 334, (21 April), pp. 811–12.

Brand, R. 2010 online ref

http://www.parliament.uk/documents/commons-committees/home-affairs/Home-Affairs-Committee_drugs_evidence_24_April_Brand_Hitchens.pdf

Clausewitz, Carl von. (1874) online ref http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1946/1946-h/1946-h.htm

Dorn, N. and South, N. (1990) ‘Drug markets and law enforcement’, British Journal of Criminology, vol. 30, no. 2, pp. 171–88.

Dowbenko, U. (1999) Online ref www.wahle.to/b/dowbenko.html (VI. Dead spooks Don’t Lie) accessed 22/04/2013.

Graham – Harrison, M. 2013 online ref http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013.

Green, P. and Ward, T. (2004) http://www.theacademiclibrary.com.libezproxy.open.ac.uk/title_display.cfm?

Gyngell, K. (2006-2010) ‘The Uk’s Treatment War on Drugs: A lesson in Unintended Consequnces and Perverse Outcomes’, The Journal of Global Drug Policy and Practice 2006-2010.

Hobbes, T. (1651) Leviathan online ref

http://oregonstate.edu/instruct/phl302/texts/hobbes/leviathan-contents.html

Machiavelli, N. 1532 The Prince Translator: W. K. Marriott Release Date: February 11, 2006 [EBook #1232][This file last updated October 19, 2010].

National Drugs Strategy (interim) (2009-2016), Department of Community and Gaeltacht Affairs [Ireland]. Online ref – http://www.drugsandalcohol.ie/12388/1/dcrga-Strategy-2009-2016.pdf

Orend, Brian, “War”, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Fall 2008 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL = <http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2008/entries/war/&gt;.

Portenoy, R. 2009 The Open University (2009d) ‘Film 4:Control and regulation’ [Video clip], DD301 Crime and Justice. Available at http://learn2.open.ac.uk/ mod/ oucontent/ view.php?id=143279&section=1.6(Accessed 21^st April 2013).

Ruppert, M.C. (2004) Crossing the Rubicon, The decline of the American empire at the end of the age of oil, New Society Publishers, Gabriola Island, Canada.

Schaffer, 2001, Library of Drugs Policy. Online ref http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/Library/studies/runciman/default.htm

Secretary of State, 2001 No. 3998 DANGEROUS DRUGS, The Misuse of Drugs Regulations 2001, under the authority and superintendence of Carol Tullo, Controller of Her Majesty’s Stationery office and Queen’s Printer of Acts of Parliament.

Select Committee on Home Affairs (2002) The Government’s Drugs Policy: Is it Working?, London, The Stationery Office.

Shiner, M. (2003) ‘Out of harm’s way? Illicit drug use, medicalisation and the law’, British Journal of Criminology, vol. 43, no.4, pp. 772–96.

The Guardian, 28 March 2007 in Drake, D. and Muncie, J. (2010) Risk prediction, assessment and management in Drake, D., Muncie, J. and Westmarland, L. (Eds.), Criminal Justice: Local and Global (p.128), Milton Keynes, The Open University.

The Open University, 2009, Welcome Introduction, 2.2 Harm and violence DD301 Crime and Justice Available at http://learn2.open.ac.uk/mod/oucontent/view.php?id=143270&section=2.2.2

The Open University (2009d) ‘Film 4:Control and regulation’ [Video clip], DD301 Crime and Justice. Available at http://learn2.open.ac.uk/ mod/ oucontent/ view.php?id=143279&section=1.6(Accessed 21^st April 2013).

Wilson, C. 1983-1984 online ref http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlie_Wilson_(Texas_politician

Prison Snow

SNOW STORM             

Last night snow fell. Inside it is warm; outside it is cold.  As temperatures dropped snow fell.

I watch the snow falling for nearly two hours while listening to ‘Classic FM’ with the headphones on.  One of those truly weird, fascinating moments, not easy to describe but as Wilbur Smith said sometimes you try to ‘describe what you see and to follow your heart.’  Here goes.

There’s a floodlight above my window: its yellow glow lights up the exercise yard as far as the outer wall.  There are a line of trees, birch and sycamore, on the freedom side of the wall. The trees are completely stripped of foliage; it’s the middle of winter.

I’m living on the “threes” (one, twos, threes and fours the number of landings on the block).  My suite, roughly level with the top of the wall, allows me, in the darkness of night, to only really see as far as the wall; because of the way the lights are set up there’s nothing but the darkness beyond creating an endless, black backdrop.

I lie on my cot, alone in the darkness watching what turns out to be a truly spectacular show as the snow begins to fall.  The snow flakes are illuminated by the spotlight in the night sky; sometimes an individual flake is defined, falling, drifting aimlessly – accompanied by the meandering notes from the piano of ‘Chopin’ which gently intrudes on the scene. 

The snowfall builds momentum, becomes thick, fast and furious; to my amazement the music becomes one with the developing storm.  The music begins to dictate, conducting the storm.  When ‘Rodrigo’ plays the snow flakes pluck the strings of his classical guitar.  When the orchestra reaches a crescendo, the fury and roll of the kettle drums are in conjunction with the gusts, flurries and swirls of the pirouetting flakes.  All of a sudden it will stop and luminescent flakes will float upwards, the music supporting the snowflakes like winged aviators, the snow floating on the thermals of violin, clarinet and flute.

In the blackness a strange thing happens.  White lines start to appear, ever so slowly in the blackness.  They are like veins snaking, twisting, reaching from nothingness; then they disappear deeper into the night.  It’s then that I realise this is the snow sitting on the branches of sycamore and birch – intertwining – and illuminated by the glow from the street lights on the freedom side of the wall.

I’m hypnotised, mesmerised. I am floating in my own little, warm cocoon.  I think to myself how cool this spectacle would be with the aid of chemicals or weed but I’m glad I no longer really feel the need for the artificial high; I’m tripping on nature’s purity – just watching, breathing, listening.

In the early hours when the storm has all but disappeared ‘Van Morrison’ accompanies the unspoiled postcard scene. This blanket of softness creates a false, muffled silence that drives me back to Belfast – Christmas Day, 2003.  My friend Noel and I walk back from the pub, heading home for dinner, feeling comfortable and merry.  The snow falls hard, fast and deep; a ten minute walk becomes an hour long epic.  Of course, when we arrive home we get an earful for being late.  I ask if anyone has bothered to look outside. My granny looks and says: “Oh, sorry son; we didn’t realise – thought you were having one or two for the road, didn’t appreciate the road was so long.”

Like last night and back then, with the two moments overlapping, I felt warm and at peace, content in my own clear-headed space.  Beautiful moments in time.  “Beautiful vision – stay with me all the time,” as Morrison puts it.

I slept like a baby.

SNOW STORM

By Michael Irwin

HMP Highdown Jan 2009           

Last night snow fell. Inside it’s warm; outside it’s cold. 

Fresh snow that’s new – not old.

‘Classic FM’ on headphones start.

Formless violins conducting snowflakes in your heart.

Above my window floodlights fall – a yellow glow

in the exercise yard but only stretching as far as birch

and sycamore on the freedom side of the wall.

Bare trees, completely stripped; mid-winter on the block. 

Darkness beyond the wall forming an endless, black backdrop.

Snow flakes in a spot-lit sky; individual flakes drifting aimlessly

Through Chopin’s notes – dissolving, going on their way.  

Snowfall builds; music conducts the storm;

Rodrigo plucks a snowflake: Outside it’s cold; inside it’s warm.

Fury, flurry, fast roll of kettle drums keeping time with each gust.

Snow thermals of violin, clarinet, flute – and needs must

Pierce the darkness where sinister white lines slowly appear

– as snow lies on the trees – there and there and here – here

Where I watch snow fall on the yellow yard in No-Man’s Land,

On the freedom side of the wall.

Diamonds and Skin

Diamonds and Skin

By Michael Irwin

HMP Magilligan

Drinking coffee, listening to ‘Elbow’

The desk lamp on –

The cups elongated shadow

Limp across the page, centre stage.

The scarred table, empty, bereft

Of all but bubbles of varnish

This soft glow of light

This Time rubbed bare

Visible through the darkness

Blurred as hesitant light

Where ghost and ghouls

Dance in the merry half night.

This tune you hum

As speckles of dust, clean clear and vivid

They settle on diamonds of skin

Near the base of forefinger and thumb

Like wrinkles of an old leathery elephant

Through time and age in increments

On a translucent blue ruler

Grain in wood, fibres in paper

This day breaking in floods

Mixing ink ‘n’ light, paper ‘n’ darkness

Tick tock, in my cell, my graveside

‘Throw those curtains wide.’

The Home Stretch Part III

Wow! It’s been a while. I’d hoped that ‘The Home Stretch’ would be a witty and observant countdown to the last day of my sentence on the 19th June 2109. Still don’t know at what time but have been assured that it will be in our system somewhere and that all will be fine. I’ll get back to that later.

As is the natural rhythm of life things don’t always go as planned. On Sunday the 24th February just after 3.00pm I lost my Dad – Samuel Hutchinson Irwin 1944-2019 (former RUC and holder of George Cross). He simply had nothing left to fight with and ironically the last piece of him to hold out whilst everything else had stopped working was his strongest feature – his heart. He died peacefully surrounded by family and that’s all we can really ask for I suppose. I’m not going to write an obituary as many of you will already know (if you’ve read my book) my Dad was the main man and I still joked with him, right to the end, when I got in trouble that “it’s all your fault anyway; you made me.”

As you can probably imagine my time in prison was a tad fraught as I constantly lived in fear of someone finding out that my Dad was a retired police officer. Especially here in Northern Ireland. Obviously, some of the older staff new my Dad from back in the dark days as there was a close affiliation between, in those days, of what would be called ‘the Security Forces’. In fact, I used to do his head in with all my challenges against the forces who held me secure. However, after a few shakes of the head he’d sit in the visits hall with a rye smile knowing that I couldn’t keep quiet because I was just like him and believed in justice and fought against injustice.

Like all family members it’s heart-breaking to see a loved one in prison and it was only when I got out, I realised the full extent this had on Dad. He knew how I was treated and how much it would go against my natural grain and the hardest part as a father was, he could do nothing to help me. I found it very sad when he told me he couldn’t even watch ‘Porridge’ anymore. That really hit home for me, as we used to roar with laughter at the antics of ‘Norman Stanley Fletcher’ and crew. Although, I do know that my Dad fought to stay alive in order to get me back on my feet again. Without him there’d be no Master’s degree, no conferences, no guest lectures in England and Scotland (some were part funded, Dad paid for the rest) something I shall forever be grateful for. In fact, when I look around me everything I have has been paid for by my Dad or donated by family and friends; even this bloody laptop.

The emotional side has been a bit strange to say the least. I’ve had a few sobs and few unsteady moments, but in general I feel very quiet and peaceful. I’m grateful that Dad is at rest and without pain. I’ve had my obligatory blow out alcohol days, but they have been few. I’ve spent the rest of the time sitting quietly at home and at peace with myself. My job was to get big Sam to the finish line with dignity and respect and alongside my brother, aunt, uncle and cousins I think we managed to do that. Therefore, it’s time for me to move on and achieve all the things I wanted to do and that would make my father proud. He never, read my work or watched me on the TV as he just couldn’t handle the pain of where it came from. The last thing he did was give me the money to have my operation which I just found out last night will be on the 26th of March. Eight weeks at home recovery and then, hopefully, all will be well with the world, the gloves are now off, and I will be writing and annoying with reckless abandon using my lived experience supported by academic research. Dads favourite saying ‘never look back. It’s a sign of weakness’. Of course I don’t agree, I’m his son for god’s sake. Sleep well Dad, I’ll see you on the other side…

Proud Parents

In January I was fortunate enough to have a meeting with probation officialdom. I’ve only got one appointment left. We discussed the ritual of my last day. “Where do I sign?” “At what time of the day am I free?” This was met by tumbleweed blowing across the office and a rather long momentary silence. We discussed it further and I emphasised the fact that for the past twelve years I’ve signed every ‘ritualistic’/legal form thrown at me by the state. The only things I never signed where my adjudications (I beat each and every one of them). From my arrest by Customs, my release on license, to my latest probation criteria I’ve had to sign some piece of paper. Where on earth is the one that now says “Mr Irwin C7874 you have now completed your 12 year sentence?” I suppose the irony of there not being one is that I’ll never be free of the system as I will never have a spent conviction. “Oh, it’ll be in our system somewhere…” Will it really? Show me. I want a print out and signed by someone. What someone could it be? Surely not the sentencing judge.

I’ve never really been too bothered about probation as I’ve been very lucky. I’ve had two fantastic young women who got me and gave me no hassle, nor did I cause any and to be truthful I’m glad I had a reminder on my phone for my every two months appointments as I’d forget about them as soon as I’d left the building. In any case, I think I deserve my certificate, my badge of honour, not that I’m proud of what I’ve done to get there but for surviving, for going the distance without breaking the law again, helping others, making people pause and think; going the distance. I don’t like this idea of that it just is, that’s the way it is, suck it up and get on with your life. Let’s do something to change that. Ritual is important.

The rest of the home stretch will be of little consequence to me as to what has just happened, and I look forward to getting back in the books. Who knows? Another attempt at a PhD may well be on the cards…

The Home Stretch Part II

Like a phoenix rising from the ashes and what seems like a lifetime, I’ve woke up with a semi clear head, a bit of energy and an urge to write. “God ‘elp us” I hear you cry. In fact, I haven’t written anything on my own blog since June 2018. This is not to say that I haven’t been writing, I have, only for other people. I’ll not go on about what where or why but I have a few health issues that are being addressed and one has left me with a very large and swollen… too much information. Anyway, as a result, I’ve been house bound since the 28th December, feeling very ill and looking forward to a knife smith approaching my meat and two veg on the 6th of Feb when hopefully, normal service will be resumed.

I’ve entitled this little mental ramble ‘The Home Stretch Part II’ as ‘The Home Stretch’ is in the book My Life Began at Forty which described the last year of the prison part of my sentence. This little lot will escort you (for those who are interested) through the last six months of my license/probation where I will officially become a free man on the 19th June 2019. I’m not sure as to what time of the day this will occur as I’m told there will be no paperwork to sign. What? That’s fucking it? Where’s my medal, my badge, my good service record at the very least a piece of paper from the state that I am now free?

Model: Amelia Mary. Photographer: Corri Chella  Copyright: L.R. Price Publications 2017 All rights reserved.

On our last appointment, over a month ago (I see probation every two months) I asked what was the ritual for the day, the boxes to be ticked et al. Apparently there is none. It just is. It just goes away to a far off make-believe land of a distant past where, ‘things’ just are and that is how it is, will be and always will be. Is it Narnia? Have I finally made it? As anyone who has read my stuff, I refer to Narnia a lot. How can this be so? How does ‘it’ my life, the last twelve years just ‘not be’ anymore. Do you not sign a piece of paper when they issue you with 3,650 days? The judge tells you “you will serve six years in prison and six years on license” and at the end of the six years in prison you sign a form before midday (they can hold you until midday) saying that you are ‘time served’ and released into the custody of the probation service where you are then given a signed copy of your license conditions.

Where’s the one that says it’s all over? You’ve done your whack a long time ago but we all know that your sentence only really begins when you leave prison. I’ve already made inquiries into this and will be pursuing it further. I think the ritual is highly important to the human psyche. I’ve had all the other rituals over the past 11yrs and 6mths why can’t I be granted the final one? Closure. End of. Defunct. Game over. Pining for the fucking Fjords. Or heavens forbid, a new beginning. I don’t know what the next six months will bring but I’m sure they will have their fair share of ups and downs and dramas with the proverbial clock ticking silently in the recesses of my mind.

Speaking of emotions and ticking clocks, I wanted to share a bit of New Years Eve. I’m sat on the sofa trying to stay awake and watch the fireworks from London and no I wasn’t on the beer, actually haven’t had a beer since the 29th December, go figure. Anyway, as I watch the scenes from the riverbank my mind transports me to HMP Brixton 2007. 12yrs ago. That’s right, just take a wee pause and think about that for a minute. How can an image transport you in the blink of an eye to 12 bloody years ago? The tears started tripping me and I got those convulsing type sobs. You know the ones you get when trying to suppress full on blubbering. I’m sure I’ve covered it in the book but a few weeks back on my sofa I closed my eyes and could smell the cordite or gunpowder (or whatever the hell they use) drifting through my window in HMP Brixton. It was strange then watching it on the telly, hearing it outside and smelling it coming through the bloody window. For me it was special moment as Brixton was my first New Year in prison and lying on the sofa 2018/19 was my last under license and another little mental ritual ticked off the list as I approach the end.

As I mentioned I haven’t exactly been idle and am very pleased and proud of some of the stuff I’ve got up to in the past six months. I’m hoping my health and this mood today hangs around long enough for me to write a chapter for an upcoming academic book. My first ever proper ‘deadline’ who’d’ve ever thunk it? I’ve also not neglected my reading especially some of the blogs on Twitter. I’m just gonna mention a few here. It’s been an absolute pleasure, to watch Michaela Booth develop wings and start to fly, laugh and cry with Josie Prison Bag, review The Secret Barrister, rant along with The Tartan Con, share with Faith Spear, record and get drunk with Lee at Injustice Film and it’s also been pretty cool to chat on the phone with others. You know who you are. Some things are better left private.

I’ve listened intently, to the developments and arguments on and in prisons and all the lovely stuff that goes with it and find my self lost and taken over by the futility of it all. Politics, I’m not going to go there but I do have to mention that the whole sorry debacle of politics both here, Great Britain, America etc have made me very sad. What hope do we have when we’re governed or not as the case may be by complete idiots who have no… No, I’m not going there and I have to say that being housebound, especially after watching ‘I Daniel Blake’, has made me realise how much of precipice we live on when ruled by poor government. I think I’m the luckiest guy alive to have the support I have from family and few good friends.

Well, my grocery delivery will be arriving soon (see how bloody lucky I am) and I’ll have to have some breakfast. I’m going to attempt to spend the rest of the day writing and updating this blog site (should be fun). The next few months should be interesting as I’m actually my own data source for future academic stuff and I hope you will join me for the final home stretch and then to… well, we’ll just wait and see eh.

Happy New Year to you all.

The Importance of Fact – Coolmoyne House

One year on and it still makes my stomach turn

micsirwin

As I trudge up the stairs to go to the loo I look out my landing window as I often do. Looking across to the high rise flats and Colin Mountain is often hypnotic to me as it conjures memories of travels and coming home from some far off land. ‘Holy Fuck!!! That’s flames coming out of Coolmoyne House. Fuck!!!! My Dad!” I don’t think my feet actually touched a step as raced to the living room to phone my Dad.

Due to his diabetes my Dad has a sleep in the afternoon and sometimes he does not week until early evening. The answer machine clicks on and I calmly tell him “there’s a fire in the flats. If you get this leave immediately. I’m on my way over now.” As I briskly walk toward the flats I count the floors. From the ninth floor up it ‘looks like’ the…

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Two Years Down

No change 3yrs later (5 in total) just wiser. Tired and wiser.

micsirwin

9.30am 19/06/2013 Me and Davey are sitting in the prison van, being driven to the railway station. The officer driving, an old notorious hand, quips about my return. Davey (going on his first home leave) chirps “aye he’ll be comin back all right but not how you think.” My eyes widen. Mr Notorious gets quite irate, refers to me and demands to know what Davey means by this. “You know what Mr Notorious. My name is Michael Irwin ‘citizen’, that is none of your business and I don’t have to answer your questions anymore.” Mr Notorious replies “You know what Michael. You’re right. I can’t take you back but I can take you back Davey so wipe that effin smile off your face.” We all laughed for different reasons.

Over the years many people have asked me what it was like to get out after six years of imprisonment. My…

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Hospital Time Vs Prison Time

What is it with me and my bowel this time of year? Fekin thing was in the process of killing me a year ago and last week decided to give up my appendix. It seems that I may have had a grumbling appendix for quite some time and this may be the reason for me feeling like crap for the past six months. The symptoms are very similar to my diverticulitis problem hence the wait in diagnosis. The wee fecker is gone now and I’m getting better each and every day.

As it’s Mental Health Awareness Week I thought I’d take a bit of a more in depth look of the events leading up to and during my stay at HMP sorry, Hospital. See how easy the mind slips? But why is this? For the purpose of this blog I’ll do my best to keep it general as I’ve agreed to co-write a proper academic paper on this under-explored area.

As always, I’d like to convey me sincerest gratitude and heart felt thanks to the consultant, his team and the staff of wards 6c and 6b at The Royal Victory Hospital Belfast. They catered to my every irrational whim and sporadic doses of incomprehensible fury. In fact, two of the nurses were genuinely amazed and interested as to why I was the way I was. I did think I was going to write academically about this last year, but it fell by the wayside. I’m glad in a way that it did as I now have two sets of field notes, two lived experiences of same time and place in same environment with many of the same participants.

In the past few months my trips to my GP have been more frequent and my fear of going to hospital has not been lost as my Dr’s have done everything in their power to keep me out of prison/hospital. It’s quite simple really when I think about it. I couldn’t have done another minute in jail and made my promise that I’d never do another minute. If that meant ending it all then so be it. That is how much prison worked for me. I’d kill myself if I had to go back. End of.

When the stomach pains started up again last week I thought ‘oh shit here we go again’ and that constant fear of hospital and leaving with a colostomy bag fries my head, the anxiety builds up and I always ask the Doc for some emergency Diazepam. After four days of constant pain and no sleep, last Thursday morning, the dreaded words are uttered ‘it’s off to A&E at the Royal for you Mr Irwin’. To be fair I knew I had to and had already backed a bag. I was on the morphine and on the ward within four hours. When the A&E Dr pressed in a certain place I was quite surprised at my suppleness of folding in half like a deck chair, whilst trying to take a swing for him and exhaling one very long ‘fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuckin ‘ell. X marks the spot so to speak.

Upon arrival on the ward the Sister half remembered me and then when I explained my situation fully remembered and said ‘not to worry. I’ll get you sorted and make sure the other Sisters and staff are aware of your situation.’ This was really cool but of course it did not belay my fears or my uncontrollable bouts of ‘PTSD Terror’. I was put on the emergency procedure list and after the results of a CAT scan an operation (treatment) would follow depending on outcome of scan. But, it was almost certainly appendicitis.

I’d had an avocado at 5.00pm the previous evening and at 12.00pm on the Thursday I had my last glass of water. Scan was done in the morning, registrar arrived and told me appendix would be removed laparoscopic-ally (all being well). I was on a list and depending on how many emergency emergencies needed to be done I was fourth on a list within a list. It was now a waiting game and managing pain. I’m not going to go into the fine detail as I will do this in academic paper but let me just clarify that without my ‘emergency supply’ of dizzies from GP I’d have had to be strapped down and sedated. I would have left the hospital and probably died from a burst appendix. I lost count of how many times I span out of control. Crying, screaming, ranting, hallucinating et al. I had one episode the last time, this time I had several. I got my OP at 4.30am on Sunday and home on Monday.

On hindsight and with clarity I now see how it all fits with the policies and procedures of prison and hospital being so similar. The bureaucracy, the blame culture of modern day society and the fear of staff of not ticking the right box or heavens forbid thinking outside it. The easiest observation to make is that hospital visits are generally between a week and a month. A horrible experience but receiving, mostly, lifesaving treatment from attentive and caring staff. In contrast to the six months to fifteen plus years a person can spend in prison not receiving care by staff who nine times out of ten don’t give a flying… You get my drift.

In June 2017 I was diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and referred to a mental health specialist. After two evaluations I had two sessions with a mental health specialist in December 2017. This person informed me that they were unable to see me for the remaining four sessions as my need was beyond their professional capacity and I had to be referred to a more professional preprofessional. In January 2018 I had a further assessment at the same place I had the first two assessments and was referred to see a more experienced mental health professional as ‘long term’ treatment would be required. When I was with my GP last Wednesday we brokered this topic and I was informed that I would be seeing a mental health professional in or around October.

That works out at one year and three months after being diagnosed with pretty severe mental illness I will finally get some sit-down time with a psychiatrist. I do so love being a human Guinea pig (no offense to little cute balls of fluff) but have to ask the obvious question. In fact this was one of the main reasons why I wanted to do a PhD, how many men and woman who leave prison with PTSD will kill themselves due to the fact that they, nor their GP, knows what’s wrong with them. I’ve been out of jail five years now and it was only by going to hospital last year that I found out I had PTSD and had been suffering from it for four years and perhaps during my time in prison. It most certainly is a direct result of it and not this fucking stupid ‘adjusting’ period that so many academics and people in the criminal justice system refer to so readily.

Just remember I am a clean, often sober, middle aged man with a lifetime of knowledge and experience of the big bad world and I’m struggling and waiting for professional help. From day one, and one of the main reasons for writing my book has been, “If I feel hopeless and suicidal and suffer from a crippling mental illness, what about those who don’t know?” I hold on by the skin of my teeth some days because I know these episodes will pass. Is there a statistic for those who don’t?

For now, I’m feeling better each and every day and looking forward to watching Chelsea kick Man Utd’s ass tomorrow. I had such a laugh with one of the auxiliary nurses in hospital. I rang my bell to get the drip changed over and he came in to the room cried with horror and said, ‘I’m sorry man I can’t help you. I have to go get someone else” and proceeded to walk out the room. He was pointing at me and shaking his head. I quickly twigged it was because I was wearing a Chelsea top. We both had a good old laugh and a bit of banter. Good fun during the bad stuff. Maybe I’ll stay off the tablets tomorrow, have a beer and watch it with my mate Les.

 

Stone Cold Crazy or Batshit?

Not that I have anything against bats! In fact, I love sitting here on these longer evenings watching the little feckers darting around my back garden. Why do I feel continued need to explain myself?

My long-suffering friend Les reintroduced me to some old Queen songs over the past couple of weekends. These encounters take place in a free space, a man shack, where beer can be swallowed, and shite can be talked, and nobody gets offended. In fact, if some form of abuse is not received one can feel somewhat offended. A song called ‘Mustapha Ibrahim’ really got my old juices flowing again. I thought to myself and out loud ‘I wonder if Freddie would get away with that in today’s ever so politically correct climate’? More to the point, would Freddie get away with being himself if he was still alive?

I first saw Queen performing ‘Crazy Little Thing Called Love’ on Top Of The Pops way back in day when pubic hairs were just sprouting. I recall the bit in the video when Freddie got his t-shirt ripped off by two scantily clad ladies in PVC outfits. I also recall my mother exclaiming ‘oh my god! Would you like at the cut of yer man?’ That statement in itself needs explaining to the un-irish amongst you but I’m not going to as this is my blog and I can write whatever the hell I like on it without always having to explain myself. I discovered at the time that it was the scantily clad ladies that caused that unknown and yet undiscovered stirring in places some refuse to admit exists. I thought Freddie was just a bit weird.

Fast forward a lifetime of mistakes, regrets and balls ups mixed with knowledge, amazing people and love; mucho love. Some might even call it ‘experience’. All experience/knowledge, good or bad is constantly changing. We are constantly bombarded with the knowledge and experience of others. Environment, space time and circumstance also play a major role in who we are. I’ve learnt so much from the baul Sri Sri fella and I’d encourage anyone living in the UK or anywhere else for that matter to look up The Art of Living Foundation and sign up for a ‘Happiness Course’, nine and a half hours of your life, spread over a weekend that will change it forever.

And so, to the main reason of this rant/blog. When I wake up I normally check my phone to see what time it is, have a quick look on twitter to make sure that the world hasn’t exploded during the night and if there is anything interesting I might want to revisit later, once I sort my bobs and bits out. I viewed a picture on someone’s Tweet showing a noticeboard on London Underground. For those of you not aware sometimes someone at station writes a nice positive quote or sentiment in the off chance that a beleaguered commuter might just read it in passing and that it might put a smile on their face or heavens forbid give them pause for thought.

The notice board said “When you see something beautiful in someone, tell them. It might take a second to say but for them it could last a lifetime.” Nothing spectacular about that and I thought, ‘nice one, cool’ and in fact one of the things we are constantly reminded to do from the Art of Living Course is commit a random act of kindness to someone you don’t know each and every day. I then saw the words ‘sexual harassment’ and jumped out of bed to get to my laptop and investigate this further.

Upon further investigation I’ve seen that another person has given a five-point plan about why this might cause some sort of problem to some people in society. I mean fucking seriously! We can all be very clever at manipulating a sentence or picking up and worrying it to death like a wragged nail or a wee fecker of a jack russell with a bone, again nothing against nail, bones and or wee skips. But there is one thing that we are all forgetting and that is that we are nearly always born out of love. We grew up being given love and sharing it. It’s our natural state to be kind and loving. We need to be taught hate. Bitterness more than likely comes from our love being snubbed.

Over the past few months I’ve seen, read and heard a lot of nasty shit coming from people I love, respect and care about. It seems to me that you can’t make an innocent tongue and check remark about anything nowadays lest every word and sentence is deconstructed, worried to death and reconstructed to fit the purpose of said other. Maybe I’m doing the same?

And this is my point. Every word on here has been used somewhere else at some stage in time by another person to create a narrative (plagiarism). As a human being our points of view and attitudes change every day, depending on what you are reading or listening to. We are a product of our environment. How on earth can we tell someone how to feel when our own feelings are constantly changing. Oh, that’s the thing, they only change if you let them. I’m always open to suggestion and criticism mind you that’s not hard as I say what I feel and always speak the truth as I know it and normally don’t give a flying fuck what others think. A good example of this is my early thoughts of Freddie being weird are now that the man is a complete genius and his openness about who he was has my greatest respect.

I’ve not been in the best of shape or form lately due to ongoing health problems and it was only yesterday that I realised my mood and reaction to others was nothing to do with them but about me. Someone mentioned that things can get lost in translation and in my last blog another person didn’t get what I said. By reading the thread about the tube notice board it has made me realise that I need to get back to feeling better about myself via my breathing and meditation. I’ve also remembered that women are the stronger of the species and why I remain single. That being a given what I will share with you is that when I do my breathing exercises daily and meditate twice daily I seem to give less of a flying f*#! in more eloquent terms if you are in a good place people around you tend to feel it and be in a good place to. So, don’t let the five-point plan destroy a lovely gesture. That is possibly why I’m stone cold crazy batshit.

Unsound Justice.

In the wee small hours of Tuesday past I lay, half awake, listening to the winds ratting the bins and battering my house. As I drifted off to memories of Africa, reading Wilbur Smith books as a kid, meeting the man and fulfilling child hood dreams I was blissfully unaware of the impending storm about to hit my #Twitterworld.

At 15.38 on Tuesday I received a phone call from Injustice (I had him down in my contacts as this as I have a couple of other Lee’s on their and didn’t want to get them mixed up) informing me that there might be no more film as he had been ‘outed’ on Twitter.

I’d been following with great interest the developing popularity of this ‘Injustice Film’ and decided it needed screening over here in Norn Iron. In order for me to do so I needed to see the film and speak to the makers of said film. After all, how on earth can I promote, share or be associated with something I haven’t seen or really know about.

After only one email and an exchange of phone numbers I received the movie, watched it, sent a text to the maker of movie enthusiastically telling him or her of it’s brilliance. Ten minutes later I got a phone call from an English guy telling me he was the director and loved that I loved it. We chatted and rambled for a while before I asked the question “why do you remain anonymous?” If it was me I’d be standing center stage and proud as punch. The guy told me “my crime is horrible and disgusting and received a lot of press coverage and I don’t want this to be what the film is about or detract from it.” “Fair enough” says I and ever so briefly, wondering what could be so horrible and disgusting (the natural voyeur of human nature raising its ugly head) but dismissed the thought as quickly as it entered as it was not up to me or my business to say what other people should do with their business.

During my six year stay in six prisons, four in England and Wales in my first two years and two in Northern Ireland for the remaining four, I never once asked a person what they were in for (or in the past five years since my release on six year license). A lot of people wonder why. There are several reasons and the rationale may be right or wrong, but I’ve found it beneficial to me as a person and self-preservation of self. One being that everyone in prison had one identity in society that they would carry for the rest of their life ‘Criminal’. The other being that I could never buy into the hierarchy of criminal offenses one being the lowest of the low and at the other end of the spectrum the ultimate crime. However, in my experience nearly all the men I met who had committed the ultimate crime carried themselves with a certain arrogance. Not all but most. There are many other reasons, but they are too complex to explain now.

After a few more phone conversations I asked the guy (he went under the alias of Unsound Robin at the time) what his actual name was as I found it difficult to greet him with “hello ‘unsound’ how are you today.” He told me his name was Lee and in the name of respectfully keeping his anonymity I promised not to tell anyone. Whether or not it was his real name was neither here nor there as at least I had a name. Over the past weeks and months, myself and Lee have developed a lovely friendship as I do with most people, I mean seriously, what’s not to like in me. There’s a lovely quote from Sri Sri Ravi Shanker (Art of Living Foundation) “just remember you are the most amazing person that you know on this planet. Love yourself first and the rest will follow.”

Another reason for my non prying nature is because I was a Listener in prison which involves sitting in someone’s cell listening to this person, at their lowest, talk about why the want to end their lives. Nine times out of ten this would involve the person talking about their crime. My stomach used to literally heave at some of the stuff I had to listen to. My heart also broke at the sheer hopelessness. It also used to jump when moments of clarity arrived, and the person climbed out of the hole they were in. It really was a mixed barrel. During my training by the Samaritans I was told that the ‘Listener Head’ never really leaves you once you understand it. This has been true in many ways upon my release. Even though I’m not frightened of sharing a story or ten, when I listen I really do.

When I share my experiences/phenomenology it’s not a me, me, me fuelled ego trip it’s more to do with maybe listen, listen, listen and learn learn, learn. During my combatant years with the criminal justice system on Home Leaves and post release I was fortunate enough to attend many a gathering of the great and the good up at Stormont (our non-functioning Government here in Northern Ireland). Sitting with my family after one of these gatherings my cousin asked me if I was not worried about one of these clever wordsmiths (politicians) or the press tear me a new asshole or make a full out of me. Way back in 2008 after completing my first Prison Smart course I looked into my eyes in the piece of polished metal in my cell and made a promise never to lie to myself again ever. The reply to my cousin was “I only know one version of what I speak about and that is my experience of it. So how can they hurt me or make a full of me. If they do that’s their problem not mine.”

In fact ‘The Press’ this was one of the biggest worries of my Father and immediate family. My dealings with the press/media over the years has been positive (I have turned down a few though) and I’ve gained a great deal of respect from those who have listened to me on radio or watched me on TV. In a way it has been a bit of reverse psychology as by standing up and having the balls to say what I believe has enabled people to be more welcoming of me. You need to remember that my crime was drug trafficking. Therefore, I am responsible (not all the time of course) for all the other crimes committed by people who are in prison if it’s drug related. I am also responsible for fueling wars, guns, genocide, social harm and deprivation (a heavy weight to carry). When I was a co-facilitator for the victim impact programme in prison I used to think that my crime was victimless. I was quickly and rightfully put to rights.

(I’ll leave my War and drugs essay at the end of this if anyone is interested).

During this time there was a guy who’d been in and out of prison for most of his life (he was a header) tentatively ask me why I did all this ballix. I told him I’ll tell you when you get it. This guy had never looked me in the eyes; ever. During a meeting he broke and admitted guilt to his crime. He cried, I cheered and cried the whole room cheered including the Victim Support representative. He came into my cell after words and we hugged and he looked me right in the eye and said “that was amazing.” He was ten feet taller and half a stone lighter. I got right in his face and screamed into his eyes, he held mine, poking him in the chest “you want to know why I fucking do what I do you fucking cunt. This is why. You right now is why.” I’d the biggest smile on my face and he burst out laughing. He then sat with his head in his hands sobbing. The regret and the remorse had finally hit him but this was the first step in him getting on with his life. I wanted to work for Victim Support but wasn’t allowed because I was a criminal. I mean seriously who could get their head round the fact that a low life scum bag would want to help victims of crime. Could a victim accept me. Don’t go telling me I don’t understand victims and what they go through. I learnt a hell of a lot through victims and restorative justice.

Lee Salters crime and conviction of physical abuse was brought to my attention on Tuesday evening via Twitter and a newspaper report (newspapers always telling the truth). I read the newspaper article and my immediate reaction was disgust and shock. I have always believed that any man who hits a women is a coward. This happened to a friend a couple of years back. She promised me she wouldn’t let him back into her life. She did and he got a bit lary one night and she didn’t like what he was saying and ended the relationship. She gave him a second chance and it didn’t work for her and I live in hope that he has learnt from this and can move on with his life. My opinion will not waver for anyone.

A couple of little mantra’s I strive to live buy are ‘don’t bee a football for other people’s opinions’ and ‘understand the intention behind another person’s mistake’. I’ve always walked my own walk and it has taken time, strength, heartache and digging deep to come to terms with my crime and the harm I’ve caused. I quickly skimmed Lee’s blog last night and will read it in more depth after this. I think it’s the first step and a brave thing to do and the only way to move forward is to own your own identity and claim your own story. There are many people who have been convicted of a crime know this. There are also a few who should take a long hard look at what they are saying. I’ve only dipped in and out of Twitter yesterday as I spent the first warm summer half sunny day with my Mum in the morning, my Dad at lunch time and few beers with headers I call friends in the in the bar later. I’ll take a further look later. Remember, I don’t buy into the jailhouse jargon on hierarchy of crime.

I often sit in pubs with murders and more. There are plenty knocking about. I’ve been friends with some these men most of my life. I only know of their crimes because they have been well documented. I am disgusted by what they have done. I don’t like or agree with it, but I let it go as this is what I believe we need to do in life. These men always have been and always will be my friends. A few of them are dead now. Died too young. Maybe they couldn’t let go of the harm they caused. We need to move on and let people live. I know this is and is impossible for some people to do, but that is their choice. Is this not what the ‘Injustice Film’ is about. We also need to remember that nobody is in prison for doing a good thing. Admittedly there are plenty who are innocent and even more who should be receiving care in the community. There is so much harm pain and suffering by criminals and victims and it’s difficult sometimes to know where this begins and ends.

I did not know the crime Lee Salters is convicted of. I did not know that he had not been to prison. If memory serves me correctly he never told me he did. I am lucky enough to have built up a personal relationship with another human being who passionately shares my views about crime and justice. I see past the madness the hurt the pain the anger that he feels and that others send to him. I do not agree with any sort of violence full stop. There is obviously much more to come. I have to say that I will continue to support Lee in his work and help him through this difficult time. I am also glad to call him ‘mate.’

War on drugs essay –

After forty years of ‘The War’ on illicit drugs what have we discovered in relation to power, social harm and the relationship between the global and the local? 

 

“Therefore to have servants is power; to have friends is power: for they are strengths united. Also, riches joined with liberality is power; because it procureth friends and servants: without liberality, not so; because in this case they defend not, but expose men to envy, as a prey. Reputation of power is power; because it draweth with it the adherence of those that need protection. So is reputation of love of a man’s country, called popularity, for the same reason” (Hobbes, 1651).  Social harm (inequality, discrimination and poverty) and power has been at the fore of many global and local social policy decisions made by states, governments and institutions throughout the 20^th century. The War on drugs via laws and policies was initially intended to make this world (and America) a safer place to live in.  This essay examines the War on Drugs, UK Drug policies and selective research which will consider and make use of concepts, evidence and policy and highlighting their affect on society at a local and global level.  This essay also discusses how the concept of the War on Drugs is entangled, linked and married to social welfare, crime control and criminal Justice and is used as a powerful tool by politicians and policymakers when defending the just cause of war.  This essay asks the question is today’s war on drugs a modern day ‘Vietnam’ waged by nation states upon it’s people and after forty years of ‘The War’ on illicit drugs how much has society at a local and global level benefited from it?

The defining literature.

The policy document used in this essay is the UK Drugs Strategy 2002 which opens up the debate whereby the Secretary of State (2002) states “The Drugs Strategy covers numerous areas of policy, but the clear overall aim must be to reduce the harm drugs cause.  Key to this aim is a clear focus on reducing problematic drug use educating and protecting the young.  Further expanding services, improving quality and building lessons learnt about what works will achieve this.” As opposed to Gyngell (2006-2010) who states “The previous “labour governments drug policy priority was to get as many ‘problem drug users’ (heroin and crack cocaine addicts) into treatment as [fast] as possible to reduce drug related crime and other harms associated with their drug use (Gyngell, 2006-2010).”  Critical authors such as Shiner (2003) suggest that “the UK constructs its drugs policy on a medical basis which considers levels of harm, perceived dangerousness and propensity to addiction.  While American reforms campaigned for a more British approach, in the world of realpolitik the process of transatlantic policy transfer appeared to be working in the opposite direction. … According to Stimson (1987) the character of British drugs policy changed so profoundly during the 1980’s that it could be meaningfully characterised in terms of a war on drugs.  The outcome of this was an emphasis on punitiveness (Shiner 2003).”  Similarly Dorn and South (1990) state that the UK drugs policy favours a punitive and social control approach to individuals who abuse drugs.  Dorn suggest that the markets are better organised and even if there is not a monopoly of a few suppliers there is in fact a more professional and organised approach to the supply of illicit drugs.  Whilst Ballantyne (2007) considers how Opiates were a common sight in chemists, doctors and opium dens at the turn of the century but it was only when they became regulated by “‘The Drug Enforcement Act in the UK (1920) and the Harrison Act in the US (1918)’” where they stigmatised and in a similar way to the later introduction of prohibition a highly lucrative and profitable illicit drug trade emerged.  The bigger question may be whether regulations have succeeded at all in controlling drug misuse, but the more immediate question for doctors in the US and elsewhere is how they should control their own prescribing so that interference by regulators does not discourage appropriate medical use of opiates (Ballantyne, 2007).”

Alternatively Michael C. Ruppert (2004) fascinating book explores and illuminates via investigative journalism how the globalisation of the planet, global economies and the dealings of governments are inextricably linked with the legal and illegal supply of drugs.  This marriage not only causes social harm and violence but demonstrates the hypocrisy of criminal justice and the flouting of the rule of law at a local and global level.  This topic has been addressed in policy terms in Schaffer (2001) who states that “nation states do ‘the minimum’ required to meet their obligations.” When considering policy in relation to the course themes it is relevant to clarify that DD301 Course Materials (2009) are organised around three themes of ‘power’, ‘harm and violence’ and ‘relations between the local and global’ and are used to consider how “there is a strong argument, therefore, that a conception of crime, without a conception of power, is meaningless; in particular , a social harm perspective allows us to explore wider considerations of responsibility for economic and geographical inequalities, injustices and exclusions and requires analysis of the role of government and corporations in their perpetration; the global free-trade market has produced a series of ‘uncontrollable’ economic forces that have shifted power, influence and authority away from the nation state and towards ‘external’ transnational capital.  This has placed fiscal and political limitations on the type of welfare, social policy and criminal justice policy that individual states can support (Companion 1, pp. 16-18).”

What is the war what is the war on drugs?

“War is a phenomenon which occurs only between political communities, defined as those entities which either are states or intend to become state. Classical war is international war, a war between different states… Certain political pressure groups, like terrorist organizations, might also be considered “political communities,” in that they are associations of people with a political purpose…” So, what is statehood?  Max Weber suggests “A nation is a group which thinks of itself as “a people,” usually because they share many things in common, such as ethnicity, language, culture, historical experience, a set of ideals and values, habitat, cuisine, fashion and so on. The state, by contrast, refers much more narrowly to the machinery of government which organizes life in a given territory. Thus, we can distinguish between the American state and the American people…” (Orend, B. 2008).  This essay suggests that the very concept of society in democracy must involve the diversity and impartiality of governance by the state over ‘all’ citizens. Furthermore, Clausewitz (1874) suggests that war is “the continuation of policy by other means… war is about governance, using violence instead of peaceful measures to resolve policy (which organizes life in a land) [and war is defined as] an act of violence intended to compel our opponent to fulfil our will (Clausewitz, 1874).” Richard Nixon created the concept in the public psyche that a drug user was the epitome of all that was wrong with society, the sole perpetrator of much of the causation of social harm and the main violator of the many facets of crime and criminality related to and with drug use.  In the early seventies the ‘war on drugs was seen as a viable way of addressing social harm at local and global level, public perception was not as informed as it is today, and this enabled the power of the state to construct an enhanced collection of self serving political policies alongside a continues subliminal rhetoric fuelled by media which condemned the drug user into the socially and morally repugnant label of ‘criminal.’  The idea of a ‘war’ is to inflict as much violence upon the enemy for as short a time as possible to inflict maximum damage resulting in the annihilation of the threat but the state needs to be wary of declaring war on its own citizens as Machiavelli states “For, although one may be very strong in armed forces, yet in entering a province one has always need of the goodwill of the natives (Machiavelli, 1532).”

Nixon cleverly declared this war on drugs on the population of America to further his political ambition and this essay suggest that the statement that follows by William J. Casey signed and endorsed by Nixon belays the consideration of the citizen, be it global or local to the injustice of state sanctioned violence on its own population:

“Freedom is a precious commodity.  The amount of freedom you enjoy is a result of the amount of vigilance you invest.

My actions may be recorded as criminal condemning countless Americans to drug dependency.  I don’t care.  All wars produce casualties.  Generally the more violent the war.  The shorter the length.  My choice was either to stare down a protracted cold war guerrilla insurgency in Latin America or use the means available to finance and wage a war of short duration for democracy.  The tool is cocaine.  The trick is to understand that the drug user had the freedom to make a choice.  They choose the drug.  I choose to use their habit to finance the democracy that all Americans enjoy.  To keep those Americans safe from the communist threat knocking on our back door in Latin America.  For a change the drug user will contribute to society.

I declare under penalty of perjury that the above facts are true and correct to the best of my knowledge and belief (Dowbenko, 1999).”

This chilling ‘lawful’ statement “my actions may be recorded as criminal condemning countless Americans to drug dependency.  I don’t care.” suggests that Casey’s actions may be considered criminal but also highlights a shift from the cause of crime to the label of criminal was made fifteen years after Richard Nixon declared his war on drugs.  This 1986 declaration is at odds with current recognised policy and the UK drug policy of (2002) clearly states that “work at community level will be expanded with a clearer focus on reducing drug related crime, empowering individuals and communities and regenerating neighbourhoods.  We will address the major gap identified in the strategy – aftercare.  Those leaving prison or treatment need help back into the community and employment if they are to remain free from drugs.”  This essay suggests that he actually declares war on America, his own political community/electorate and the moral justness of war so widely used today was not substantiated then and is still not today as the state was actually trying to eradicate opposition the ‘Vietnam war’ by targeting social protest in the form of firstly hippies, then the black panthers and ultimately the youth of America who he originally said he was trying to protect.  The fact that the Cold war and provision of freedom from communism by the American state opens up a complex and inextricably linked association behind the politics, power, social harm at a global and local level justify the reasons of Wars in different countries, in this case Afghanistan.  This essay considers the idea that getting involved with the Russian invasion of Afghanistan was a strategic move which allowed ‘justification’, policies, funding and political gain of a continued war on illicit drugs condemning the world to a perpetual set of social harms and creation of criminal justice systems both locally and globally that not only devastated communities but fed the power of the state via the industry of war. In 1980, a US senator Charlie Wilson initiated a response to the soviet invasion of Afghanistan which started out with funding of CIA operations at $1 million but increased the CIA budget for its Afghan operation to an unprecedented amount – In 1983, he won an additional $40 million, $17 million and in 1984, CIA asked Wilson for $50 million more.  “Wilson succeeded in giving the Afghans $300 million of unused Pentagon money before the end of the fiscal year.”  When the soviets left defeated in 1994 Wilson could not get $1 million to build schools and aid with infrastructure he famously said “we came and we achieved great thing but we fucked up the end game (Wikipedia, 2013).”  It is important to recognise the war on drugs is not simply about production and control of opium in Afghanistan but that is being fought at many different levels in countries across the globe; more recently in Mexico and Columbia and this leads this is to consider if the war is being won.

Is the war being won – the yes camp and the no camp?

Are Drug users victims of their environment or of their own personal vice or have they become a politically motivated post war tool that is manipulated to feed social and welfare policies, crime control and criminal justice at local and global level.  During Nixon’s administration the idea was formed that addicts/abusers had a moral choice if they partook of drugs and the rational decision making is the basis of the forming of criminal laws against society’s expectations.  If the basis of founding these laws are poorly informed at conception then how are they still in operation today.  There is much discourse across political dialogue surrounding the many policies involving rehabilitation, methadone, needle sharing and more specifically early intervention involving:

“Vulnerable children and ‘those at risk of criminality’, including those whose parents are in prison and/or among the 300,000 problem drug abusers, are to be ‘actively case managed’ by Children’s Trust social services staff and youth justice workers from ‘the earliest possible point’. Universal checks on every child throughout his or her development to help ‘service providers’ identify those most at risk of offending throughout their development, including at 11 when they go to secondary school. Preventative programmes to tackle social exclusion, drugs and alcohol abuse. (Source: The Guardian, 28 March 2007 Boo2 p 128 Early intervention).”

This been used in policy for years but what are the actual success rates.  Gyngell (2006-2010) states that the previous “labour governments drug policy priority was to get as many ‘problem drug users’ (heroin and crack cocaine addicts) into treatment as [fast] as possible to reduce drug related crime and other harms associated with their drug use”.  “The conviction that harm reduction treatment is a pragmatic and ‘evidence based’ public health policy…that must be extended to the entire ‘problem drug using population’ has driven an unprecedented investment into treatment over the past 10 years.”  The current UK policy states that “we believe drugs policy should primarily be addressed to dealing with the 250,000 problematic drug users rather than towards the large numbers whose drug use poses no serious threat either to their own well being or to that of others… the annual economic cost of class A drugs in England and Wales are between £10.1 and £17.4 billion.  Problematic drug users account for around 99% of these costs (Secretary of State, 2002).”  The figures are staggering but do they give proper representation of the true scale of the ‘problematic drug user’ especially when more recent research demonstrates that at least 10% of the UK’s population suffers from ‘addictive personalities’, a medical condition whereby people become addicted to ‘anything’ be it drugs alcohol, chocolate or religion.  Russell Brand presented to the UK Home Affairs Select Committee in 2012 that out of ten people taking drink or drug for the first time at least one will become addicted because of this medical disorder, “this condition of addiction is a health issue as opposed to a judicial and criminal issue and that there should be complete abstinence from state sponsored opiates such as methadone (Brand, 2012).”

Therefore, the figures used in the policy suggest that there is an alarming problem costing the country economic damage but by criminalising it further the costs of criminal justice, policing, courts and prisons making the figure significantly higher.  Consider a drug courier who gets caught with 1K of  Cocaine entering the UK at cost of £12,000 per kilo, with an upper end street value set by HMC&E of £84,000, receives a twelve year prison sentence where the custodial part of the sentence alone costs £500,000.  Stephen Mason (2009) states that “the problem with the War on Drugs is that it creates far more harm than it eliminates. If drugs can’t be kept out of prisons, how can you possibly keep them out of a mostly free society? The “War” won’t go away because by now it’s become a major industry. It creates jobs on one side of the law and provides the opportunity for huge financial rewards on the other.” The Schaffer library considers “major cultural shift in attitudes to drugs and their use has occurred in the United Kingdom over the past 30 years. Social attitudes towards drug use have become more nuanced and sophisticated, not only among the young… among adults aged 16-59 twice as many as not regard cannabis as less harmful than alcohol – but the great majority do regard heroin, cocaine, ecstasy and tobacco as particularly harmful. If anything, more people aged 45-59 years saw cannabis as less harmful than alcohol than did those aged 16-24. (http://www.druglibrary.org.)  Ultimately making laws and declaring wars that cannot be justified or enforced only serves to negate public opinion and perception of the state, especially in today’s global information age and introduces Tony Ward’s (2004) notion that “…any political decision can be considered harmful to someone (Ward, 2004)”

What harm does it cause society?

Michael C. Ruppert (2004) considers how the globalisation of the planet, global economies and the dealings of governments are inextricably linked with the legal and illegal supply of drugs.  This marriage not only causes social harm and violence but demonstrates the hypocrisy of criminal justice and the flouting of the rule of law at a local and global level. How much does the United States spend fighting the war on drugs? The annual US budget is approximately $12.7 billion, with 65% spent on “source control,” or supply control, and 35% going toward treatment and prevention (about twice as much is spent on treatment than prevention), disruption of the supply market consists of $721.5 million will be spent in the Andean region, $297.4 million for counter-narcotic programs in Afghanistan, and $152.4 million targeted at customs and border-patrol operations Office of National Drug Control Policy (Wikipedia).  Ruppert (2004) states “the amount of money generated by the drug trade, if it is known with any accuracy, is probably one of the most closely guarded secrets in the world” (Rupert, 2004, p.57).  Even though Afghanistan is recognised as the main source of opium and the current war in Afghanistan today mirrors what happened with Wilson’s War in the eighties as troops prepare to withdraw whereby:

“Twelve years after the fall of the Taliban, Afghanistan is heading for a near-record opium crop as instability pushes up the amount of land planted with illegal but lucrative poppies, according to a bleak UN report.  Poppy cultivation is not only expected to expand in areas where it already existed in 2012 … Opium traders are often happy to provide seeds, fertilisers and even advance payments to encourage crops, leaving farmers who do not have western or government agricultural help very vulnerable to their inducements. At the same time the more powerful figures in the drugs trade, from traffickers to corrupt government officials, who take over half the profit from each kilo of opium, have shrinking opportunities to earn money from NATO or international aid contracts – and may be preparing a war chest for upcoming presidential and parliamentary elections. If this year’s poppy fields are harvested without disruption, the country would likely regain its status as producer of 90% of the world’s opium. Afghanistan’s share of the deadly market slipped to around 75%.  Eradication programmes that do not provide farmers with benefits such as healthcare and education, and support growing other crops will just push the Taliban or other insurgent groups that do tolerate or encourage poppy production, he added http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013.”

The indelible image of a bemused Afghani soldier and Afghani farmer in the middle of field is a simple scene but portrays a difficult and complex set of issues.  The farmer states “instead of beating my plants, why don’t you beat me? For God’s sake, give us food and you can take all of this.” (The Open University, 2009d) suggests the farmer and the soldier are unaware at a local level how the power play at global level results in harm and violence between two countrymen fighting over a source of income.  One has orders (the state controlled by global relations) to destroy the crop; the other sees his only source of income being destroyed. This is a complex dynamic as the poppy has always been a culturally specific, secure farming commodity which thrives in an otherwise non-arable and barren environment.  Therefore, at grass roots level the farmer will sell his harvest to the highest bidder – be they legal or illegal – and in recent times it has become abundantly clear that, as the legal control of opium affects global relations, then, whoever has a monopoly on the harvest controls these markets and can then influence power relationships globally.

This war is not limited to Afghanistan there are also the Mexican and Columbian drugs wars to contend with when combined this is a war being fought on frightening scale at a local and global level and the scale of social harm is difficult to ascertain.  The Mexican problem has been rising significantly over the years and what once was something that consisted of a few nasty gangs has now become a global enterprise ruled over by extreme violence.  Even though there are many atrocities carried out by the cartels, gangs, individuals and states one of the most disturbing issues raised in this research is that the fact that the war on drugs has caused developing countries to implement policy controlling the use of what we in the global north consider everyday pharmaceutical morphine usage as they have become a black market commodity where countries already suffering from social detriment are unable to receive the most basic of healthcare needs. Dr Russell Portenoy (2009) states “Some countries have simply created such a complex system of record keeping and transportation of drugs that the average hospital, the average clinician, can’t get access to them. And in those countries the government would say we’re not limiting access, we’re just controlling distribution (The Open University, 2009d).” Rupert and the course material both suggest that “there are two types of money generated by the drug trade … all stages of growth, manufacturing processing wholesaling and retail trade [and] funding law enforcement, court systems and prisons; prison construction alone costing $30billion dollars a year (Drake, Muncie and Westmarland, 2010, p.50).”  The American experience teaches that over aggressive regulations that ignore legitimate needs for opiates compromise doctors’ ability to treat pain. Ballantyne (2007) states “As the pendulum has swung here between medical underuse and overuse, patients have been harmed. Now that it is becoming clear that the outcome of chronic opioid treatment is often poor, studies are urgently needed to investigate who benefits and under what conditions.  The bigger question may be whether regulations have succeeded at all in controlling drug misuse, but the more immediate question for doctors in the US and elsewhere is how they should control their own prescribing so that interference by regulators does not discourage appropriate medical use of opiates (Ballantyne 2007).”

In conclusion, the war on drugs is a perfect example of how modern day nation states create the self perpetuating and inextricably linked process of criminal justice, punitiveness, politics of law and order and shape them to become a standard party political discourse.  It is this essays view that this tough talking soap box rhetoric is one of the most dangerous social harms to have come to the fore since Nixon declared a ‘war on drugs’ in 1971.  Upon closer analysis this so called just war is a legal use of force on its own population sand is originally contrived and fuelled by the abhorrence of populist media upon a percentage of the population of the USA snowballing from a containable local threat to a national moral dilemma culminating in a global industry. Dorn and South (1990) state that the UK drugs policy favours a punitive and social control approach to individuals who abuse drugs; where markets are better organised and even if there is not a monopoly of a few suppliers there is in fact a more professional and organised approach to the supply of illicit drugs; the UK would be better served if its policies focused more on the responsibilisation of drug markets and re-visited to be less repressive to already socially excluded sections of the community where strict policing strategies contribute to social harm (Dorn and South 1990).  This essay suggest that if the war on drugs has been going on for forty years it is therefore only natural to consider that there are winners and losers but what of the real cost to society when the true economic value of the legal and illegal trades are controlled, manipulated and enforced by the state which never fully divulges the cost of declaring war on its citizens. Why then after so much time and so much money and so much waste of life are there inequalities in these communities and why is there such an obvious drug culture especially when drug addiction is being exposed as medical condition affecting 10% population.  Is it then the case the war on illegal drugs has created a social underclass where a certain section of the community will always be ‘criminal’.

Words 4,385

 

A reference list.

Ballantyne, J.C. (2007) ‘Regulation of opiod prescribing: over-regulation compromises doctors’ ability to treat pain’, BMJ, 334, (21 April), pp. 811–12.

Brand, R. 2010 online ref

http://www.parliament.uk/documents/commons-committees/home-affairs/Home-Affairs-Committee_drugs_evidence_24_April_Brand_Hitchens.pdf

Clausewitz, Carl von. (1874) online ref http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1946/1946-h/1946-h.htm

Dorn, N. and South, N. (1990) ‘Drug markets and law enforcement’, British Journal of Criminology, vol. 30, no. 2, pp. 171–88.

Dowbenko, U. (1999) Online ref www.wahle.to/b/dowbenko.html (VI. Dead spooks Don’t Lie) accessed 22/04/2013.

Graham – Harrison, M. 2013 online ref http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013.

Green, P. and Ward, T. (2004) http://www.theacademiclibrary.com.libezproxy.open.ac.uk/title_display.cfm?

Gyngell, K. (2006-2010) ‘The Uk’s Treatment War on Drugs: A lesson in Unintended Consequnces and Perverse Outcomes’, The Journal of Global Drug Policy and Practice 2006-2010.

Hobbes, T. (1651) Leviathan online ref

http://oregonstate.edu/instruct/phl302/texts/hobbes/leviathan-contents.html

Machiavelli, N. 1532 The Prince Translator: W. K. Marriott Release Date: February 11, 2006 [EBook #1232][This file last updated October 19, 2010].

National Drugs Strategy (interim) (2009-2016), Department of Community and Gaeltacht Affairs [Ireland]. Online ref – http://www.drugsandalcohol.ie/12388/1/dcrga-Strategy-2009-2016.pdf

Orend, Brian, “War”, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Fall 2008 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL = <http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2008/entries/war/&gt;.

Portenoy, R. 2009 The Open University (2009d) ‘Film 4:Control and regulation’ [Video clip], DD301 Crime and Justice. Available at http://learn2.open.ac.uk/ mod/ oucontent/ view.php?id=143279&section=1.6(Accessed 21^st April 2013).

Ruppert, M.C. (2004) Crossing the Rubicon, The decline of the American empire at the end of the age of oil, New Society Publishers, Gabriola Island, Canada.

Schaffer, 2001, Library of Drugs Policy. Online ref http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/Library/studies/runciman/default.htm

Secretary of State, 2001 No. 3998 DANGEROUS DRUGS, The Misuse of Drugs Regulations 2001, under the authority and superintendence of Carol Tullo, Controller of Her Majesty’s Stationery office and Queen’s Printer of Acts of Parliament.

Select Committee on Home Affairs (2002) The Government’s Drugs Policy: Is it Working?, London, The Stationery Office.

Shiner, M. (2003) ‘Out of harm’s way? Illicit drug use, medicalisation and the law’, British Journal of Criminology, vol. 43, no.4, pp. 772–96.

The Guardian, 28 March 2007 in Drake, D. and Muncie, J. (2010) Risk prediction, assessment and management in Drake, D., Muncie, J. and Westmarland, L. (Eds.), Criminal Justice: Local and Global (p.128), Milton Keynes, The Open University.

The Open University, 2009, Welcome Introduction, 2.2 Harm and violence DD301 Crime and Justice Available at http://learn2.open.ac.uk/mod/oucontent/view.php?id=143270&section=2.2.2

The Open University (2009d) ‘Film 4:Control and regulation’ [Video clip], DD301 Crime and Justice. Available at http://learn2.open.ac.uk/ mod/ oucontent/ view.php?id=143279&section=1.6(Accessed 21^st April 2013).

Wilson, C. 1983-1984 online ref http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlie_Wilson_(Texas_politician