Have you noticed that America is losing its ability to do things competently?

Adding insult to the injury of indifference, we’ve abandoned the idea that normalcy, stability and prosperity have even the remotest connection to skill and accountability.

Nowhere is this more evident than in Asheville’s zombie parade of addicts.

In a few short decades we’ve surrendered all semblance of pretense in addressing this catastrophic community epidemic.

 Why?  

Because most of the people who could make a difference are as addicted to political correctness, denial and enabling as our army of intersection beggars are addicted to getting high.

How about a little light therapy?

Liberal media outlets like to lie?

I got my up front and personal exposure to the dishonesty and naiveté of our local daily and liberal weekly (not to be confused with this biweekly paper which actually attempts to offer a balanced perspective) in the early part of this century. 

It was while attempting to accelerate taxpayer funded efforts to strengthen community drug enforcement, treatment, and prevention.

I quickly found out that liberals in general are fond of our drug culture and apparently so are liberal journalists.

With few exceptions, editors and staff ran from anything that suggested that the guys selling drugs, the addicts funding them, and the politicians enabling them were bad news meriting dedicated attention.

It was easier to circulate the emotional comfort food that (1) addiction is a disease fed by chemical imbalances (2) we have a good track record of success with drug addiction treatment and (3) those who make a choice to enter the drug world are innocent victims.

None of those things are true.

The disease and chemical imbalance models of addiction theory were disproven decades ago. We continue to echo that nonsense because it’s easy and familiar, not because it’s factual.

We’re lousy at pulling addicted people away from self-destruction. I agree with those who suggest over the course of a hard drug addict’s lifetime, we’re lucky if we salvage one in eight.

Asheville’s community media outlets are intended to be watchdogs. Our watchdogs have been too stoned, too naive, and too biased to galvanize the public and our elected officials into action.

The result – our world is getting darker by the minute.

Politicians lie first to themselves

Politicians at the local level are the only ones with the direct power to put the hammer down and lead the charge on our drug problem.

They don’t because they have to risk their own electability by going against our community’s passively permissive indulgence at all levels of today’s rampant drug culture. It’s easier to vote for greenspace and face masks than to challenge real evil.

There are lots of places to start, but for fun, what I wouldn’t give for the opportunity to implement disclosed drug screening for Asheville’s teachers, attorneys, elected officials, public employees and journalists.

In a community where more and more otherwise functional people don’t know how to live without getting high on something, of course there is a resulting impaired ability to challenge our toxic drug culture.

Oh yes, while we’re on the subject of dishonesty, please spare me the fantasy of legalization, free housing and medical care, and other addiction enabling methodologies as an answer. It’s mostly lazy feelgood silliness with not an ounce of realism.

The drugs that first turn people into zombies, then turn them into drains on our public safety net, will eventually kill them whether those drugs are legal or not.

Is that how a civil society should operate?

What should be done?

I personally don’t know one local politician, journalist, or addiction advocate who has shown any testicular fortitude in confronting our drug problem.

There is realistically only one thing that’s going to have meaningful impact on this growing issue – prevention. When we get serious about immediate, creative, and unpleasant personal accountability for drug users and dealers, we will stop our current out-of-control addiction recruitment program.

Most people avoid or stop doing bad things when they can’t get by with it. Drug dealers are like black-and-white TV salesman – they go away when they run out of business.

Drug treatment that does work involves a comprehensive approach that requires accountability on the part of the addict. You can’t treat someone as a victim and stimulate personal responsibility at the same time.

As for the innocent victim baloney, please remember that every drug addict makes the initial choice to get high and they did so in spite of overwhelming evidence that addiction is a fast-track to hell.

There’s a word that’s fallen out of favor in today’s crazy sleepyhead woke world – shame.

Everybody with a remote ability to challenge the drug world – politicians, ministers, physicians, law enforcement leadership, judges, community organizers, journalists, and voters – should be “in your soul” ashamed for the marriage we have consummated between formerly cool, green Asheville and the drug world.