REDEFINING THE HARD-DRUG PROBLEM

A candidate for public office recently observed that the most serious
problem facing Asheville is the problem of "hard drugs" and the
attendant problems of child abuse, domestic violence, crime, etc. One
is not sure what is meant by the term "hard drugs," but usually it is
meant to refer to illegal drugs like cocaine (especially crack
cocaine) and heroin.

Excluded are generally legal drugs like alcohol, tobacco and
caffeine, and the illegal drug marijuana.

There are at least two problems with this way of framing "the
problem." One is that all the problems cited in relation to the use
of hard drugs occur in much greater frequency in any community as a
result of alcohol use. The other is that the core problem is seen as
residing in the drugs themselves and in their use and distribution.
In reality, these drugs are primarily consumed in communities other
than where their effects are most often observed.

The communities most identified with hard-drug use and distribution
in Asheville are public-housing neighborhoods. Asheville's
public-housing neighborhoods are predominantly populated by people of
color with low incomes.

The epidemiological data on drug use indicates that drugs are used
more heavily by white people, and that use increases with income.

The "problems" seen by our local officials are the result of
something other than the drugs themselves.

Drug-control policy in this country virtually assures that the drugs
that are most identified as problems by politicians will be
distributed by the people, and in the communities, most at the
margins of society. This is because those people most marginalized
have the least to lose by engaging in behavior that has the potential
for resulting in long prison terms.

And it occurs in those marginalized communities because of the
dominating influence of the most marginalized residents and
interlopers who come into those neighborhoods to engage in illegal activity.

Public-housing neighborhoods -- in large part -- replaced true,
organic communities, in which there was a diversity of residential,
social and economic activity, with artificial residential
neighborhoods isolated from a robust economic and social life. The
Block in Asheville is only one of several vibrant neighborhoods that
urban renewal "renewed" into oblivion.

The dual and complementary problems of racism and poverty are both
cause and result of the manner in which our community has chosen to
beautify itself and remove the least empowered of our citizens out of
day-to-day public view. (Except, of course, for those pesky homeless
people who continue to besmirch our streets with their nervy
panhandling. Here's a suggestion for all of you who find the unwashed
panhandlers unnerving: Smile at them, nod at them, indicate you
recognize they are human beings, even if you are not going to give
them any money.)

It is noble that some of our public officials want to get rid of the
hard-drug problem. (This is, it should be noted, contradictory to the
Bush administration's conviction that the "real" drug problem is
marijuana, and if people would just stop using that drug they
wouldn't go on to hard drugs.

These people are even more clueless than our local officials.) The
problems that people identify with hard drugs are, in fact, problems
attendant to racism and poverty, and until our -- or any -- community
is really ready to address these problems, drug dealing, violence,
crime and child abuse will be observed disproportionately in those
communities with the least resources to address them.

- -- Robert F. Wilson

Asheville