Drugs, Kids and Crime:: Surviving Our Drug Obsessed Culture

By Craig Farris

This book is the result of fifteen years of firsthand experience with drug and alcohol abuse and the related crime and imprisonment that often accompanies it. This raw, real-life experience has been expertly interwoven with the most up-to-date science on drug pharmacology, classifications, substance use disorder, and effects upon the brain and body. It also explores prevention, treatment, and substance abuse in diverse cultures and special populations such as youth, criminal offenders and people with dual diagnosis.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Mar 9, 2021
• ISBN: 9781716429941

Book preview

Drugs, Kids and Crime

Surviving Our Drug-Obsessed Culture

Substance Abuse in Special Populations & Prevention of Substance Abuse

CRAIG FARRIS

2nd Edition

Revised

Updated

Copyright © 2021 Kendall Craig Farris

Photography: Wendy Lamberton

Edited by: Rich Neumann

Cover and Interior Design: Desktop Miracles, Inc.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced by any mechanical, photographic, or electronic process, or in the form of a phonographic recording, nor may it be stored in a retrieval system, transmitted, or otherwise be copied for public or private use without prior written permission by the publisher.

The author of this book does not dispense medical advice or prescribe the use of any technique as a form of treatment for physical or medical problems without the advice of a physician, either directly or indirectly. The intent of the author is only to offer information of a general nature to help you.

In the event you use any of the information in this book for yourself, which is your right, the author and the publisher assume no responsibility for your actions.

Library of Congress Control Number 2021904783

Publisher’s Cataloging-in-Publication Data

(Prepared by The Donohue Group, Inc.)

Farris, Craig.

Drugs, Kids and Crime: Surviving Our Drug Obsessed Culture. Revised, 2nd Edition / Craig Farris.

p. : ill. ;  cm.

Print ISBN: 978-1-6780-8563-6

E-book ISBN: 978-1-716-42994-1

Includes bibliographical references and index.

1. Youth—Substance use—Prevention. 2. Youth—Drug use—Prevention. 3. Drug abuse—Prevention. 4. Substance abuse—Prevention. 5. Drug abuse—Study and teaching. 6. Drug abusers—California—Biography. I. Title.

HV5824.Y68 F37 2006

362.2/9/17

Printed in the United States of America

Dedicated to:

My late mother and father, Kenneth and Margaret Farris, Pamela, Camille, Peri, the late, great, Rodger Noe, Steven Lange, the amazing Rich Neumann at SUB2r, all those miracle workers who helped make this book a reality and those of you who might benefit from my mistakes without having to live them yourself.

Special Thanks

Wendy Lamberton @Double Vision Design, Rodger Noe, Fifi Klein, Dr. John Peake, my executive editor, Rich Neumann, and the following charitable foundations for their work in social justice around the world:

Initiate Justice

The Anti-Recidivism Coalition

The Kendeda Fund

The Skoll Foundation

Here is what readers and classrooms are saying about Drugs, Kids & Crime:

You have done your research well. I believe your concept for seminars is very good. Thanks for your help this year and good luck on future projects. DETECTIVE JERRY LISTER, Crime Prevention Unit, Boise, ID Police Dept.

The most complete documentation of drug and alcohol abuse I have ever seen. Necessary and important for all groups. LARUE CORBIN, PHD, Professor of Psychology, College of the Redwoods, Fort Bragg, CA

Riveting. Very professional. I was mesmerized by your entire presentation. You had the audience on the edge of their seats. Larry Bennett, Education Services Manager, Junior Achievement, Burbank, CA

Your course was wonderful; I want my children to hear it. Dianna Howard, The Hewlett Packard Corp.

This book absolutely moved me at my core. This man is a hero. He’s an enormous human being, one of my favorite people and we love having him on the show. DonnaMarie Recco, Host of Let’s Talk Recovery Radio and Actress (Law and Order, Analyze This—Analyze That, Auto Focus)

Your presentation made a notable impact on every member of my team, and so, we endorse your book as part of an overall prevention program for all our parent-teacher groups. Lori Vollandt, Los Angeles Unified School District Board of Advisors

"Here are the reasons I will be using your book as a working supplemental text in our course entitled, 'Substance Abuse in Special Populations':

* Brings in here and now situations into the classroom.

* Talks about the special population of prison life.

* Has an excellent addictionary of terms.

* Can be easily used for tests and quizzes.

* Easy to read and understand.

Orlando Rivera, CATC, Alcohol and Drug Studies Division, Health and Science Department, Glendale Community College

The work Mr. Farris is doing has the potential of helping a lot of people in our community. He has an incredible story and message and is uniquely qualified to speak to the youth who most need to hear his message. Robin Bradley Kar, Associate Professor of Jurisprudence and Law, Loyola Marymount University

Kids who will not read a book read this book! Lorraine Weiner, Librarian, Inglewood High School

I encourage every school in Los Angeles, especially those in my District, to take advantage of the programs that Mr. Farris and his Foundation have to offer. Former Los Angeles City Councilman, the late Bill Rosendahl

About the Author

Craig Farris is a recovering addict, ex-criminal offender and a survivor of America’s drug-obsessed culture.

Craig is a Certified Addiction Specialist with a degree in Social and Behavioral Science and an award winning public speaker who writes, teaches, consults and lectures across the country. He authored the first edition of Drugs, Kids and Crime while serving an eight-year sentence in a California prison.

For questions, personal appearances or thoughts please contact Craig at [e-mail].

Introduction

This book is a comprehensive and in-depth look into drug and alcohol abuse for youth, families, schools and all of us affected by our country’s drug-obsessed culture. It is designed to be shared by parents, teachers and young people alike who want to educate themselves, increase awareness and open lines of communication between each other.

This book is the result of fifteen years of firsthand experience with drugs and alcohol-related crime and imprisonment. This real-life experience is combined with years of tireless research into the biopsychosocial components of addiction, the impact of parenting, current prevention and treatment strategies and the complex relationship between drugs and crime.

I wrote the first edition of this book while serving a prison sentence in a California prison. I found myself wasting years of my life because of my addiction to drugs and the criminal acts that often result from drug-seeking behavior. I decided to turn all of those negative choices into something positive for others in an attempt to redeem myself in some small way.

That’s how this book began. However, getting it done from behind prison walls was a whole different story.

Typesetting, cover design and printing are expensive services. I had little hope of finding a publisher who would publish my work. In addition, prison officials constantly seized any mail that had anything to do with my writing and publishing, making it very difficult for me to accomplish my goals. Then a woman from across the globe contacted me through a web site I had. She had lost her own son to a drug overdose, and wanted to help me. She also happened to be in the business of developing and designing books. This wonderful woman not only created the photo illustrations and cover design for the book she also did all the typesetting free of charge. Then I met San Jose Business Consultant Rodger Noe. With my friend and fellow inmate, Steven Lange, the three of us founded Over the Wall, Inc., to publish not only my book but also the works of other talented prison writers. I hope our collaborative efforts will be of value to you and those you care about.

Here, in this second edition, I’ve made many important updates to reflect the newest findings and definitions in medical science in the ever-evolving field of substance use disorder and treatment. I’ve also added information about some of the latest drugs to arrive on the scene within our culture, their composition, effects on the brain and the exceeding danger they pose to our youth.

I’ve also made some important changes to better meet the needs of those teachers and professors in schools and colleges who have driven the demand for my books in the collegiate and digital academic platform markets. I hope my continued research and discovery will better assist you all.

For many years our youth have been bombarded with propaganda, scare tactics and Just Say No rhetoric, while simultaneously being fed a steady diet of feel good messages from alcohol manufactures, drug companies and pop culture. No wonder a lot of people have been confused for a very long time. My purpose in this book is to find my own truth and tell it, combined with some of the best science on drugs and alcohol.

CRAIG FARRIS

To the Reader

Throughout this book, you will find a number of film selections listed. Many of these films may be obtained on loan, free of charge, from the California Department of Alcohol and Drug Programs by calling [phone].

The films listed in each section should be viewed upon completion of the section as it will help students of the book gain a greater understanding of the material herein. These films are a tremendous teaching and learning aid when used in conjunction with this book.

Chapter One: The Relationship Between Drugs and Crime

Time is the most valuable commodity we have. Not money, power or possessions, but TIME. It is the one thing none of us will ever have enough of; the one thing each of us will want just one more minute of when we lie upon our dying beds.

General Statistics

Alcoholism is the third leading cause of death in America.

There are 18 million alcoholics in the country and the number is growing.

Alcohol causes more medical emergencies and social damage than all other drugs combined.

1.6 million kids in grades 10–12 drink heavily at least once a week.

22 million Americans have used or are using cocaine.

70% of people who re-enter treatment do so for cocaine addiction.

Marijuana is still the most popular drug.

One in five males age 18–25 is a marijuana user.

There is an upturn in alcohol and marijuana use in the 12–17 age group. Most persons who develop addictions first use drugs in their teens.

At least three out of every 30 junior high school students now use drugs.

Introduction and experimentation with drugs proceeds in a general, cumulative way, usually initiated between the ages of 12 & 15. The injection phase, if reached, begins between the ages of 12 & 17.

Young college graduates are about one-half to two-thirds as likely to have used illicit drugs during the past month as their age mates.

Today’s illicit drugs are, in many cases, as much as ten times more powerful than drugs were in the 1960s.

America leads the world in illicit drug consumption. The illicit drug trade in the U.S. earns 300 billion dollars a year, yet law enforcement claims (erroneously) seizures estimated at 100 billion. This misleading figure is arrived upon by breaking down large quantities of seized drugs, predicting how much they have to be cut by dealers prior to sale, and what amount of revenue that volume would have produced if sold in small quantities at top prices. Realistically, this country’s effort at interdiction only nets approximately 10% of the illegal drugs that are flooding the U.S.

There are two million people incarcerated in the U.S., about 115,00 in the state of California alone. 70–80% of them are imprisoned for crimes directly related to drug or alcohol abuse, yet the vast majority of the prison budget is devoted to staff wages

In 2020 95,000 people died in the U.S. from alcohol related causes.

There are approximately 27 alcohol related driving fatalities every day in the U.S., or one every 53 minutes.

Each year there are over 106,000 premature deaths from alcohol and illicit drug abuse.

In 2020 there were 760 armed robberies of pharmacies in the United States, twice as many as reported in 2006.

In 2020 there were approximately 2.7 million emergency room visits in the United States due to drug abuse or misuse.

The highest percentage of those 2.7 million emergency room visits (348) were from the abuse or misuse of illegally obtained prescription drugs like oxycontin, oxycodone and hydrocodone.

In 2019 all major cities across the country reported that the majority of criminal arrestees tested positive for at least one of ten illicit drugs.

In 2020 78% of criminal arrestees in Sacramento, California tested positive for illicit drugs.

50% of all kids who become involved in the Juvenile Criminal Justice System will continue to reoffend and remain enmeshed within that system well into adulthood.

What does this tell us? We still have an enormous and growing drug and alcohol problem in the world. Kids are still using drugs and alcohol. It indicates that there is a complex relationship between drugs and crime. Finally, it tells us that if we become involved in drugs there’s a good chance we will wind up in a jail or prison cell at some point. For how long is something we can’t control once we’re there.

Can I Get a Doctor?

I will smash your face. I’ll smash your face and write a phony report sayin’ you attacked me and I’ll get away with it. The prison guard’s hot, fetid breath assaulted my nostrils as he spoke only inches from my face. I don’t like your tone of voice, he admonished—and I knew I was in trouble.

Hours earlier I had come here to the hospital for a cancer examination. Three big prison guards stood around. Bored, scowling, looking like pro wrestlers having a bad day, they had nothing to do, no one to wrestle. They hated the world that had been so cruel as to stick them in this crummy, dead-end job working with criminals and concrete.

Hey you, c’mere.

Uh-oh. I had just had a doctor digging around in my you-know-what with his fingers, checking for the cancers that had killed my father just two weeks before. Bladder, kidneys, colon, prostate— the murderous disease felled him within weeks of being diagnosed. I wonder if they would even care.

What unit are you from? he asked.

C-quad, I replied.

Show me your I.D.

I showed him the card, irritated, vulnerable and in pain.

I don’t like your tone of voice, he began, and then he committed three felonies.

For the Record

I’ve been arrested for bank robbery, robbery, auto theft, possession of forged documents with intent to commit fraud, forgery, conspiracy to traffic in controlled substances, possession of drugs for sale and being under the influence of drugs.

I went to prison the first time when I was twenty-three. I was forty one when I wrote the 1st edition of this book..

I’ve been in so many different prisons that I lost count of them long ago.

I’ve also been bitten by police dogs, and beaten up by cops and prison guards numerous times.

Welcome to the world of drugs.

The House of Pain

Drug and alcohol addiction, or what is now called substance use disorder, is defined by the American Medical Association as a disease. It’s also clear that this disease appears to arise from a complex biopsychosocial recipe and environment, both nature and nurture. In turn, all the data we have clearly indicates that most crime is a kind of symptom of these addictions and related maladjustment.

We know that society’s more violent and dangerous predators make up only 30–40% of incarcerated criminals. These are the sociopaths, the psychopaths who are incapable of feeling human empathy, remorse or possess any insight into how their actions affect other people. And we know from decades of research that these people rarely change or even desire to change. Yet, the vast majority of incarcerated offenders are themselves, victims of trauma, sufferers of addictions and men and women who simply do not possess the coping skills and abilities necessary to build or maintain healthy, constructive lives. And we also know that these people most certainly can and do change when given a little love, encouragement, support and comprehensive training in all major life areas. Almost all of these people suffer from addictions and a host of other problems

Sadly, for the past 70 or so years, our nation has chosen to address these problems by punishing people who exhibit the symptoms of those problems by incarcerating them. Many drug addicts steal, burglarize homes and cars, write bad checks and sell drugs to support their habits. Others, usually recreational users, hold down jobs and support their habit that way. All of them, however, have, for the