Science and Philosophy Seminar of the Eastern Shore of Virginia has scheduled its next seminar, “The Opiates Crisis: Medical and Law Enforcement Perspectives”. The free 90-minute seminar will be at 12:30 p.m. on Friday, Apr 13 in the Lecture Hall of the Eastern Shore Community College, 29300 Lankford Hwy, Melfa, VA 23410.
Virginia State Police Investigator Senior Special Agent Charles Misuna and Dr. Frances Williams, MD will discuss opiate and substance abuse from medical and law enforcement viewpoints, and their efforts to combat the problem.
Williams employs her years of experience treating pain as a hospice medical director to understand the use and abuse of opiates.
Misuna has spent the last ten years of a long career investigating drug diversion and pharmaceutical cases.
For over 40 years we have been engaged in a War on Drugs. What do we have to show for it? Nothing good.
We have dynamic raids in the middle of the night for non-violent drug crimes, innocent people killed when police raid the wrong house, people shot by the police for non-violent drug crimes, civil asset forfeiture (where the police steal your property and make it nearly impossible to get it returned, the corruption of entire nations and regions of nations, the creation of violent cartels that are wealthy beyond comprehension.
And what do we have now? The quality of drugs has never been better, nor the prices lower.
Most of the bad things associated with drugs, including cartel violence, street violence, corruption of governments, HIV, Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C, and overdoses, are the direct result of its illegality.
We have lost the War on Drugs, and we need a completely new approach.
There has never been a penalty stiff enough to deter that activity.
11 teens die each day in our nation from texting while driving, but no state has a penalty stiff enough to deter it.