The Prescription Drug Dilemma

The Prescription Drug Dilemma: Officers say crack and pill abuse in West Virginia has reached 'almost an epidemic stage.'

This article ties in with my post earlier today on systems thinking and intelligence led policing. I seriously doubt the medical researchers who invented Loritabs and Oxycontin realized the consequences the new pain relievers would have on the criminal environment and the rise of new types of addicts. They weren't doing systems thinking - they stayed in their discipline, as most of us were taught to do, in order to become expert. We, as analysts, investigators, researchers, leaders and policy-makers should be aware of what new developments in science may result in changed crime problems. We should become proactive in helping identify preventative measures alongside the scientists in some way, shape or form.

Think of how the Tylenol poisoning cases affected how we all open over-the-counter and prescription medications now. Who would have imagined that several bottles of poisoned Tylenol could lead to such a massive change in the way we all open medicines? Pharmaceuticals had to react swiftly to the threat after the fact. Could this have been anticipated and prevented? Would anyone be willing to pay to secure medicines by using foresight? Probably not. Yet, the threat could have been identified very easily.

Thinking of the implications of scientific inventions, as well as how existing things can become criminal problems, requires imagination as well as logic. Applying imagination, putting yourself in the shoes of criminals, terrorists, and emerging opportunity, to understand what new threats may emerge, is a skill we need to develop in order to affect the criminal environment the way we desire. We also have to believe that we can make a difference.

Changing the way we open medicines is preventative. It costs, but it saves lives. It doesn't require hunting out all the crazy people who might poison others using the modus operandi of contaminating supply. Rather, it leverages the point in the system of medication distribution under our control, thus circumventing using legal and investigative means to change a crime problem.

Addiction and crime is a complex problem with no easy solutions. There is no cap on a bottle. Yet, undoubtedly, there are better solutions. We just have to yet invent them.