Tony Zirkle for Congress

Visitor #46522

Drug Crime

On Wednesday, February 4, 2004 at 1:30 p.m., Tony Zirkle, Republican Candidate for Congress for Indiana's 2nd District will hold a press conference at the St. Joseph Co.-City Building, 227 W. Jefferson St., 1st Floor in the northeast corner.

At this press conference, Tony will discuss his plans for making progress on the "trench warfare" that is currently being waged in this society on drugs. Tony has prosecuted felony drug dealers in three (3) of Indiana's five or six largest counties, Elkhart, Lake and St. Joseph. Some of the topics will include the following:

1. A better route to lower taxes and deficit reduction.

If we build a society where more individuals do not desire or are able to reduce their demand for drugs on their own or with better motivation, we could save enormous amounts of tax revenues that could be used to both reduce the deficit and/or provide additional tax cuts at some point in the future. It's common thought in law enforcement that half or more of all crime is connected in some way to the drug trade. Thefts, burglaries, robberies, murders, etc. are all very often associated with either raising funds to buy drugs or enforcing deals gone sour.

The most recent advisory from the Administrative Office of the United States Courts, dated June 11, 2003, suggests a monthly cost to taxpayers of $1,876.61 to be used for imprisonment and a monthly cost of $1,457.67 for community confinement. Therefore, we spend at least $25,519.32 per year for every one of our federal inmates. If this cost is the correct average for our 2,200,000 inmates nationwide, then U.S. taxpayers are burdened with $56,142,504,000 each year. That's at least $56 billion every year just for incarceration costs! Add to that figure the tremendous costs of police, prosecutors and court staff along with their medical insurance costs of $11,000 per year per employee, and one will quickly come to the conclusion that this war on drugs is not being prosecuted successfully.

2. Wars are not won when innocent people are punished.

Besides the criminal offenders who are locked away for what is often decades at a time for drug offenses, the effects of this drug trench warfare on others are rarely discussed. Besides punishing the innocent taxpayers with higher taxes or deficits as noted above, we should ask ourselves what the effects are on children who suddenly lose one or both of their parents for decades for what may be their first criminal offense. Studies show that children of single parents are far more likely to commit offenses that lead to prison time. It may be the case in some instances that putting one parent in prison actually increases crime over the next generation.

3. A more effective demand side approach is needed.

The real problem with this trench warfare is that it has historically been approached from a supply side only strategy. The demand side has been largely neglected. The economics of human behavior have revealed that whenever demand is present, someone will match that demand with a level of supply until an equilibrium is attained.

One approach that we can take is to introduce legislation for drug courts that distinguish between the drug-addict user who is very often struggling with a mental illness and who is using drugs to self-medicate and those who are dealers. Dealers, especially repeat offenders, should be punished severely for exploiting weak individuals for the lucre of profiteering. User-addicts should be treated, especially for first offenses. Jail officers should also be trained to spot signs of mental illness. I am personally familiar with a case of an inmate who would walk in a circle for 36 hours straight while on a sleepless manic high. The jail staff did nothing.

However, drug courts should not be a joke. In order to get into a drug court, an individual should be required to provide to law enforcement all information on crimes in their possession within thirty (30) days of notice. If they do so, their offense will be transferred from a criminal case to a quasi-criminal one. They will be guaranteed no prison time if they comply with the program. They will have to engage in drug screens twice a week and stay clean for three (3) years straight before they can exit the program. If they fail, they will start over. For every dirty drop they produce, they will start out with a certain punishment that will be increased each time they fail. Eventually, most addicts will conclude that the costs outweigh the benefits. If we simply put them on probation and do not monitor their use, they will continue to provide the crimes and money that support the dealers.

Additionally, my experience has led me to agree with the parable that if you clean a house and you don't fill it with something positive, it will end up dirtier than before you cleaned it. For those drug addicts who are mentally ill, removing their drugs will lead them to other crutches. We should provide treatment and counseling where appropriate. Additionally, drug courts have often neglected the principles of living a balanced lifestyle, such as engaging in proper exercise, diet, sleep and fresh air. When people exercise, their brains produce neurotransmitters that are not totally dissimilar to those artificially produced by drugs. Moreover, environment plays a big role in why people use drugs to escape their often very difficult lives. We should engage in a public debate on how we can help improve the lot of those that are using drugs as an escape mechanism.

4. Methamphetamine and prescription drugs.

Methamphetamine use has exploded over the last few years. Part of this problem lies with the ability of almost anyone to manufacture it by themselves with internet provided instructions. I am proposing that we look at a few of the necessary ingredients in the production and for ways that we can slow down its home-production. One way is to provide a funded mandate to farmers to put locks on their anhydrous ammonia that is being routinely stolen in small quantities from their fields.

Another way is to make precursors like Ephedrine and Pseudoephedrine only available behind the pharmacy counter, so that they can not be so easily shoplifted in avoidance of any purchase or possession restrictions (like those in Michigan). I would not support at this time (I might later) making them Schedule V controlled substances as I have heard that Missouri does. [More domestic violence cases are now committed in Missouri while under the influence of Meth than under alcohol]. We should not punish innocent people with the burden of going to the doctor to get a prescription if we can effectively set up a less restrictive, equally effective standard. Therefore, if one needs these medicines, which are advertised as prescription strength and even better than a prescription, then they will simply have to show a picture id and have their name entered into the pharmacy's business records.

I will also support legislation that will waive the right of privacy for pharmacy records only (not doctor's office records) for not only the methamphetamine precursors, but also for the ten most abused prescription drugs such as oxycontin, vicodin, valium, alpraxolem, GHB, diazepam, Xanax, etc. When law enforcement has reasonable suspicion that someone is manufacturing methamphetamine or is a prescription abuser or forger, they should be able to call the local pharmacies and ask how many of these certain drugs this individual has acquired recently. If a person has visited 40 different pharmacies in one week for Pseudoephedrine, then law enforcement should have access to that information, along with other information, in order to seek a search warrant. Prescription abusers should not be able to engage in infinite doctor shopping with near impossible barriers to curb their practices.

Additionally, doctors' offices should be encouraged to engage in more quality control over their prescription pads. I have seen cases where carpet cleaners for doctors' officer routinely steal prescription pads and sell them to others or write them for themselves. I have seen a former doctor's office employee recruit drug addicts outside pharmacies and offer for money to call in prescriptions for them since she knew the doctor's DEA number. Perhaps we should consider providing doctor's with new DEA numbers at the beginning of each year. Additionally, with the internet and e-mail we now have the technology to have prescriptions sent directly from the doctor's office to the pharmacy with a password that can be verified. We should also require those who pick up medications to sign their names so that evidence can be preserved should a criminal case ensue. Some pharmacies already require a signature to pick up medicine.

5. Criminal punishment should be self-supporting and should not punish the innocent.

As a plebe at the Naval Academy, I vividly recall the instruction from the Patton movie that was played for us that, "You don't win wars by dying for your country. You make the other [guy] die for his." In the same vein, we will not win this war on drugs by punishing innocent taxpayers and ignoring the demand side with its mental illness issues. Instead of putting someone in a cell where they will rot for decades, let's put them to work. Have them pay for the costs of their incarceration by creating textile mills of cheap labor to produce nearly free uniforms for public school children. Have factories where they can make cheap supplies for our kids. Allow them to work to pay child support instead of starving their dependents and sending them off to welfare which further punished innocent taxpayers. We could even use prison labor to hold traffic signs in order to reduce the costs of upgrading U.S. 31 to an interstate or for improving the Hoosier Heartland Highway between Lafayette and Fort Wayne, although I would wish to make sure that all of the current highway jobs are secure first.

6. Education, education, education.

Education of our youth can work. The recent dramatic drop in ecstasy use attests to that fact. I can still remember seeing movies of drug uses with my parents at the local 4-H building when I was 8 years old. I can still remember the picture of a young man who had his entire side of his face removed because of his tobacco use. Whatever education techniques we are using now are simply not as effective as they should be.

7. Root cause of the drug trade.

We should devote more time to asking why so many of our children and citizens take drugs. We rarely ask that question. Besides it's use for self-medicating mental illness, why are so many addicted to drugs? Is it possible that the sexual revolution of the 1960s with it's massive increase in pornography and its ensuing breakdown of the marriage relationship has created a vacuum in the human heart that is being filled by illicit drugs? Instead of punishing the symptoms, lets find the boll weevil root cause. That's the subject of a future press conference.

These are just some of the ideas Tony will discuss at his press conference. Your presence is welcome. Tony can be reached at work in Elkhart at 574 293-6525 or at home at 219 662-1540 if you have any questions, would like additional details, or if you can not attend the press conference.

Should you wish to be removed from future e-mail press releases, feel free to contact us at Campaign@TonyZirkle.com.

Respectfully,

It's the Kids, Smartie Campaign Committee