Verified by 
To those who loved Prince, those who wished they could turn back the clock to give the beloved music icon another chance to get the help he needed before his addiction to painkillers tragically took his life, U.S. Sen. Kelly Ayotte has a message.
Prince didn’t belong in rehab. He belonged in prison.
The news that the fallen star died from an overdose of fentanyl, the reigning king of opioids, amplified the clarion call already sounding in the drug treatment community for a heightened emphasis on the epidemic of prescription painkiller addiction. But at the same time, a bill is moving through the U.S. Senate that would make the possession of a tiny amount of fentanyl (still more than enough to kill the user) a federal crime. Such a law could have landed Prince in prison.
The language, tucked into a massive defense spending bill in an amendment authored by Ayotte, would send people caught with as little as one-half gram of a mixture containing fentanyl to federal prison for at least half a decade. Currently, it takes 10 grams of fentanyl — 20 times that amount — to get someone five years. The amendment by the Republican from New Hampshire would also impose a mandatory 10-year sentence on anyone possessing 5 to 20 grams, which could be increased to 20 years or life without parole if the defendant had prior drug convictions.
The growing popularity in the illicit drug trade of fentanyl, a painkiller 50 times stronger than heroin and 100 times stronger than morphine, is certainly an area of concern. Because fentanyl can be 20 times more profitable than heroin, experts say it has become the new drug of choice of cartels.
The answer, according to Ayotte, is punishment. “We need to send the message — as we think about the intervention with law enforcement — so that you better not, better not as a drug dealer, mix fentanyl with anything or you are going to be held accountable,” Ayotte said in a news conference.
Bad Drug Policy
However, public health and civil rights advocates, as well as law enforcement officials, argue that people in possession of a few grams of a substance containing fentanyl are typically struggling with opioid addiction, not working as traffickers. They decry the legislation as overreaching and a throwback to the bad old days when society’s only answer to drug dependency was prison.
While Ayotte said her efforts are aimed at countering the production and sale of illicit drugs, such laws harken back to the drug prevention policies of the 1980s. Mandatory minimum sentences didn’t work then and they won’t now.
Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) spoke for 40 minutes on the Senate floor in fierce opposition to the amendment. “Locking more people up for longer and longer sentences for low-level drug crimes at the expense of billions and billions of taxpayer dollars does not curb drug use and abuse,” Booker said.
Nearly 100 groups working to make the fight against drug abuse less punishment-focused sent a letter to Senate leadership in early June urging opposition to the legislation.
“We now know the results of those previous efforts: Illicit drug use today is at the same level it was in 1988,” two former lawmakers who played key roles in the past legislation wrote on thehill.com. “If Congress wants to do something positive, as opposed to simply looking concerned, it should not repeat the mistakes of the past. … Along with state and local governments, Congress should try to direct as many addicts and small-time dealers (who frequently are addicts who sell drugs in order to subsidize their addiction) to treatment.”
Recidivism Rate 75%
The opioid epidemic has hit particularly hard in Ayotte’s home state of New Hampshire, and while her efforts may be well-intentioned, they are not the answer. For example, a 2015 report paid for by the Pew Charitable Trusts showed that the chances of a typical dealer being caught during a drug transaction are about one in 15,000, obliterating the so-called deterrence argument. Of the drug offenders who are caught and sent to prison, about 75% return within three years.
They return because drug addiction is a disease of the brain and prison isn’t the way to manage it. Recovery programs consisting of evidence-based treatment that allows individuals to overcome physical dependency and learn to live life sober are the answer. Health specialists and law enforcement officials agree that the U.S. cannot arrest its way out of the problem and the American people are beginning to come to the same conclusion. A Pew Center poll conducted in 2014 found that two-thirds of Americans want to see drug offenders enter programs that focus on rehabilitation rather than incarceration. The poll was the first large survey of American opinions on drug policy in 13 years.
Which brings us back to Prince. There is no doubt he would have wanted people in his situation to receive help. After all, Prince was not only about the music. From his “Love 4 One” charity, his silent funding of the environmental group “Green For All,” a free concert for disabled students at the height of his popularity and many, many other acts of generosity, his helping nature surely would have extended to addicts.
Prince’s tragic death should inspire us to steer people dependent on opioids and other drugs into treatment, not prison. If prison time is not what the world would have wanted for the beloved musician who was only trying to find relief for excruciating pain, then prison is not the place for anyone suffering from the scourge of addiction. In Prince’s own words:
“I'm no different [than] anyone. Yes, I have fame and wealth and talent, but I certainly don't consider myself any better than anyone who has no fame, wealth or talent. People fascinate me. They're amazing! Life fascinates me! And I'm no more fascinated by my own life than by anyone else’s.”
— to NME
Addiction is complex. It is a primary, chronic and progressive disease that doesn’t go away while a person is incarcerated. Prison may allow them to detox, but it does not address the underlying issues that led to the substance abuse in the first place. We know that people are better off in treatment than not. Indeed, several meta-analyses of drug abuse treatments demonstrate that treatment is effective in decreasing drug use and reducing addiction-related problems.
Whether Prince or pauper, prison time isn’t the prescription for addiction. Breaking the cycle of re-arrest and re-incarceration with scientifically proven interventions is.
Jason Powers, MD, is chief medical officer at Promises Austin drug rehab and The Right Step network of drug treatment programs in Texas. He is the pioneer of Positive Recovery, an approach to substance abuse treatment that helps people discover meaning and purpose in recovery.
