home

An Addict's Act of Heroism

By TChris, Section Crime Policy
Posted on Thu May 12, 2005 at 12:00:03 PM EST
Tags: (all tags)
Share This: Digg! StumbleUpon del.icio.us reddit reddit

by TChris

With the possible exception of Rush Limbaugh, drug addicts tend to be excoriated by the right. In the end, addicts aren't demons who deserved to be vilified; they're humans, with human failings. And, as this story demonstrates, with human strengths, as well.

A homeless man who did odd jobs for a local restaurateur was stabbed to death as he defended her against a knife-wielding intruder, authorities said.

Kelcy Ruiz, 32, was mourned as a hero for coming to the aid of Melida Murillo during an attack Monday at her Colombian restaurant, Mama Leonor. Ruiz, described by relatives as a crack cocaine addict who lived mainly on Miami's downtown streets, did occasional work for Murillo in exchange for food.

As a Miami police detective pointed out, Ruiz was "a forgotten member of society" who "acted better than most people who are not homeless." Let this be a lesson to those (including members of Congress) who believe that rehabilitation and redemption are impossible goals, and that individuals lose their value to society once they commit a drug crime.

< Thursday Open Thread | Considering Bolton >

  • The Online Magazine with Liberal coverage of crime-related political and injustice news

  • Contribute To TalkLeft


    • Display: Sort:
    An Addict's Act of Heroism | 26 comments (26 topical)
    Re: An Addict's Act of Heroism (none / 0) (#1)
    by kdog on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:58:59 PM EST
    Sad, yet touching story. Murillo helped out a guy society wants no part of, and it ended up saving her life. Now I know why I believe in karma. Drug addiction isn't a moral failing, and of course it shouldn't be considered criminal... it's a medical problem or an emotional problem, or more likely a combination of the two. Nothing that warrants being placed in chains.

    Re: An Addict's Act of Heroism (none / 0) (#2)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:58:59 PM EST
    hats off to the man for his actions. he died a hero. trying to draw larger lessons from his heroism is when you run into problems. apparently, the alleged murderer was also a homeless drug addict. we all make choices.

    Re: An Addict's Act of Heroism (none / 0) (#3)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:58:59 PM EST
    Prior to 1914 and the enactment of the Harrison Narcotics Act into law, anyone could go to a drugstore and purchased their desired drug of choice. It is the errant law that is the problem, not drug users. Rush Limbaugh mades choices, too, and he was treated with kid gloves. Along with Noelle Bush, which tells me you have to know somebody important and with a lot ot moolah to escape the clutches of the run-amok broken system of laws that control us all. Good governance is a thing of the past in the erstwhile republic of the US of A.

    Re: An Addict's Act of Heroism (none / 0) (#4)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:58:59 PM EST
    sorry. I won't accept this guy's heroism as a general indictment of the nation's drug laws, any more than you would favor making them harsher because the alleged murderer was a drug addict.

    Re: An Addict's Act of Heroism (none / 0) (#5)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:58:59 PM EST
    Drronchee- Indeed. We now have two standards. If you support the party (or are related to a highly placed member) your addiction is a medical issue, to be seen as something to be treated. If your just a poor nobody, then it's obviously a criminal issue, and you must help feed the prison-industrial complex. Ed- Stick to your guns for all I care. Just remember how well prohibition worked out. Wrong then, wrong now.

    Re: An Addict's Act of Heroism (none / 0) (#6)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:58:59 PM EST
    how biting. lots of low level drug users slip through the criminal justice cracks. Sit for a day listening to prelims in Cook County-lots of poor people/lots of cases dismissed. would drug legalization have helped either of the folks in this article? how?

    Re: An Addict's Act of Heroism (none / 0) (#7)
    by Patrick on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:58:59 PM EST
    Ahhh, the prohibition argument again. Most laws, by there very nature, are prohibitive. Murder for instance is a prohibition. Since people still commit murder should we do away with the law under this "Prohibition wrong then, wrong now" doctrine?

    Re: An Addict's Act of Heroism (none / 0) (#8)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:59:00 PM EST
    I was in a souvenir store in Deadwood, SD in 1971. The storekeeper said, "come here and see this." I was led through a door and into a underground room that had an old opium den from the 1890's complete with mannequins of Chinese opium smokers. There is a rich history of such places all over the United States, not just in Deadwood. How would of it saved the man's life? Acceptance of the use and laws that define a legality instead of intolerance and punishment. It is done in Vancouver, British Columbia. There are safe houses for heroin addicts. I don't condone the use, but denial and ignorance of what others want to do with their bodies is beyond the pale. There was a documentary on Worldlink tv that was quite interesting. The police in Islamabad discovered a residence where the inhabitants were in possession of opium. The police arrived at the residence, confiscated the opium and held a civilized conversation with the people who were in possession of the substance. No guns were drawn, no doors rammed, no lives lost, They were quietly and humanely processed through their judicial system. It could have all been 'made for tv', but they way the circumstances developed, it didn't appear that way. Here, in the US of A, the scene would have been barbaric. Law enforcement would have been freaking out with guns drawn and violent tactics to 'apprehend' the violators of the law. It has gone too far. It's out of control. I have worked with individuals who had problems with heroin. They would get up from their slumber each day and go to work. They had their problems, but the use of the drug didn't debilitate them so that they were useless. We need a humane approach to those who choose to use drugs, not incarceration and years of prison. It is getting us nowhere and in big trouble. What is done in the US of A is in no way how to handle these problems. You get what you pay for. What we pay for is hell on earth.

    Re: An Addict's Act of Heroism (none / 0) (#9)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:59:00 PM EST
    even a legal drug addict has to buy his drugs. your solution isn't a solution, unless you are somehow in favor of civil committment to enforce treatment requirements. somehow, I think not. certainly, you can't argue that alcohol and its problems went away after the end of Prohibition.

    Re: An Addict's Act of Heroism (none / 0) (#10)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:59:00 PM EST
    There is no 'solution' and there never will be a 'solution'. People do use mind-altering substances, be they legal or illegal. Observe the problems that stem from the use of Zoloft, Prozac, Celebrex, Vioxx etc. The use of the those pharmaceutical 'killers' has added to the problem and solved nothing. Society will never have a 'solution' for drug abuse. As long as there are people, there will be a segment of any population that will use drugs. It won't go away. Either we accept their use or we continue willy nilly looking for a solution. The latter is a dead-end, obviously.

    Re: An Addict's Act of Heroism (none / 0) (#11)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:59:00 PM EST
    I won't accept this guy's heroism as a general indictment of the nation's drug laws, any more than you would favor making them harsher because the alleged murderer was a drug addict.
    You miss the point. A prominent feature of the drug laws is "one size fits all" mandatory sentencing. BOTH sides of this incident--the murderer and the hero--show why that's a bad idea.

    Re: An Addict's Act of Heroism (none / 0) (#12)
    by Pete Guither on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:59:00 PM EST
    Ed, of course alcohol and its problems didn't go away after the end of prohibition, but the problems of prohibition went away (and they're much worse than the effects of the drugs). Also, it IS possible to find good ways to deal with addicts outside of prohibition (dronnchee's on the right track). For example: Switzerland is now leading the way out of prohibition. In 1994, it started prescribing free heroin to long-term addicts who had failed to respond to law enforcement or any other treatment. In 1998, a Lausanne criminologist, Martin Kilias, found that the users' involvement in burglary, mugging and robbery had fallen by 98%; in shoplifting, theft and handling by 88%; in selling soft drugs by 70%; in selling hard drugs by 91%. As a group, their contacts with police had plunged to less than a quarter of the previous level. The Dutch and the Germans have had similar results with the same strategy. All of them report that, apart from these striking benefits in crime prevention, the users are also demonstrably healthier ( because clean heroin properly used is a benign drug ) and that they are more stable with clear improvements in housing, employment and relationships. [The Guardian] But nobody in the US wants to even discuss such practical solutions.

    Re: An Addict's Act of Heroism (none / 0) (#13)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:59:01 PM EST
    Observe the problems that stem from the use of Zoloft, Prozac, Celebrex, Vioxx etc. The use of the those pharmaceutical 'killers' has added to the problem and solved nothing.
    These drugs are neither mind-altering nor addictive. They have no abuse potential. If taking any of these drugs does in fact alter your mind then there is something wrong with your brain. These drugs have also solved real problems - clinical depression and chronic pain. Conflating the problems of side effects in drugs with no abuse or addiction potential with the problems of addictive drugs, including some prescription pain killers and tranquilizers, serves no useful purpose, except perhaps to stigmatize people with real diseases.

    Re: An Addict's Act of Heroism (none / 0) (#14)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:59:01 PM EST
    sorry, but I don't buy the proposition that the prohibition is worse than the drug. without the legal system, there is no stick in the "carrot and stick" equation. try getting addicts of whatever stripe in rehab without it.

    Re: An Addict's Act of Heroism (none / 0) (#15)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:59:01 PM EST
    there is no stick in the "carrot and stick"
    So what is it that brings alcoholics to treatment?

    Re: An Addict's Act of Heroism (none / 0) (#16)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:59:01 PM EST
    "If taking any of these drugs does in fact alter your mind then there is something wrong with your brain." Well, duh. That's why people take them. Christ. And you try telling someone who's trying to come off Prozac that it's not addictive.

    Re: An Addict's Act of Heroism (none / 0) (#17)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:59:01 PM EST
    No problems with Prozac? You have got to be kidding me. Zoloft is non-addictive? You obviously know no one who uses the products. The Red Lake, Minnesota high school student was prescribed Prozac. There was a person in Georgia a few years ago that went on a killing spree. He also had a prescription for Prozac. The Columbine high school students who attacked their fellow students were prescribed Prozac. Legal drugs are a HUGE problem.

    Re: An Addict's Act of Heroism (none / 0) (#18)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:59:01 PM EST
    there is no stick in the "carrot and stick" equation. try getting addicts of whatever stripe in rehab without it.
    That must be why there are so few people enrolled in A.A. There is no criminal prohibition, hence people won't seek treatment. Oh, wait, there are millions involved in A.A. Hmmm....

    Re: An Addict's Act of Heroism (none / 0) (#19)
    by Pete Guither on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:59:01 PM EST
    Prohibition causes: • Billions of dollars in taxpayer expenditures • Huge numbers incarcerated • Booming black-market economy • Profitable criminal industry • Impure, unsafe drugs • Hobbling of doctors and medical treatment • Death • Government corruption • Reduction of citizen support for law enforcement • Targeting of children by criminals • Increased violence • Destruction of families and communities • ... much more Oh. And it doesn't work.

    Re: An Addict's Act of Heroism (none / 0) (#20)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:59:01 PM EST
    One person says:
    And you try telling someone who's trying to come off Prozac that it's not addictive.
    and another says:
    No problems with Prozac? You have got to be kidding me. Zoloft is non-addictive? You obviously know no one who uses the products.
    Been there, done that - with Prozac and a few other anti-depressants. Zoloft works best for me, but I've gone off of it a couple of times, too. For most people withdrawal from anti-depressants is relatively minor. It varies with the medication and some people do have an unusually difficult time with withdrawal. But the key point is this - withdrawal is not the defining criteria of addiction. A drug is addictive when increasing the dose is necessary to maintain effects. This is not the case with anti-depressants.
    The Red Lake, Minnesota high school student was prescribed Prozac. There was a person in Georgia a few years ago that went on a killing spree. He also had a prescription for Prozac. The Columbine high school students who attacked their fellow students were prescribed Prozac.
    It never ceases to amaze how the minds of some people work. All of these people were prescribed Prozac because they exhibited symptoms of mental illness. These people then behaved in anti-social, and in these cases violent, behavior. Some people conclude the drug and not the disease is to blame. What a fascinating lack of reason. To be fair, though, in most of these cases it's the social environment as well as the disease. The biggest danger I'm aware of from anti-depressants is that they can make manic-depressives manic. Prozac didn't do that to me, but Effexor sure did. But the problems I caused during that time weren't the fault of the Effexor, They were part of my illness. There are too many people with agendas more interested in propaganda than facts dealing with mental illness, just like Jeb Bush, apparently.

    Re: An Addict's Act of Heroism (none / 0) (#21)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:59:01 PM EST
    One more point:
    If taking any of these drugs does in fact alter your mind then there is something wrong with your brain.
    Well, duh. That's why people take them. Christ.
    People don't take Celebrex and Vioxx to alter their brains. They're painkillers. Their big advantages and the reasons they became so popular so fast were that they are neither addictive nor mind-altering. Painkillers don't have to work in the brain to be effective, nor is pain usually a symptom of something wrong with the brain. Ever have a cavity filled? And just to be complete - normal people do not get high from anti-depressants, Bill Maher's ignorance to the contrary.

    Re: An Addict's Act of Heroism (none / 0) (#22)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:59:01 PM EST
    Since when did I have an agenda? It behooves me. You make it sound like I purposely sought out and worked along side heroin addicts in order to develop an 'agenda'. Nothing is further from the truth. I needed a job, and they just happened to be there too. NOTHING more than that. I have a relative that ingested Zoloft for a number of years. The individual also plowed through several hundreds of thousands of dollars and is now completely broke. I will blame the Zoloft for the disconnect from reality and nothing else. The person was so loopy from the Zoloft, they had no idea what was taking place. Now, they're in a sorry state of affairs. Had they paid attention to the real world, it would be different for them. What worked for you may not for others Agenda Schmegenda. Prohibition failed with alcohol and is a complete failure with the current illegality of other prohibited substances.

    Re: An Addict's Act of Heroism (none / 0) (#23)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:59:01 PM EST
    I understand that people don't get 'high' from those two prescribed pharmaceutical substances. I didn't want to imply that. Vioxx is responsible for over 140,000 deaths. It kills. The same can be said for Celebrex. If anybody has an 'agenda', it is the pharmacuetical companies and not me.

    Re: An Addict's Act of Heroism (none / 0) (#24)
    by pigwiggle on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:59:01 PM EST
    “would drug legalization have helped either of the folks in this article? how?” Me; I don’t much care how the legalization may have effected the bad choices these two folks have made. What I care about is this [drug regulation] repugnant infringement of liberty. If you care about subsequent crime, target that; if you care about the well-being of drug addicts, help them. Folks will do all manner of harmful things to themselves, and as I see it you should have nothing to say until it directly affects you. And then this should be the point of punishment.

    Re: An Addict's Act of Heroism (none / 0) (#25)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:59:01 PM EST
    I will blame the Zoloft for the disconnect from reality and nothing else.
    Then you'll be wrong. Zoloft doesn't do that to normal people. It doesn't do that to clinically depressed people. It only does that when there's another mental illness around, usually bipolar disorder. The description you provide is a classic example of manic behavior. Your relative is probably bipolar. I've had a manic reaction to Effexor. That was part of the reason my diagnosis changed from depressed to bipolar. That doesn't make Effexor a bad drug. I've also had the effects of medications cause very serious damage to my life. The drugs aren't the problem. The disease is. There are drugs I won't take because of the problems they've caused, but it's not these drugs that are bad. They're just bad for me - and that is due to the nature of my illness.
    If anybody has an 'agenda', it is the pharmacuetical companies and not me.
    Or both of you. There are people who would still take Vioxx and Celebrex if they were available, even knowing the risk of heart attack and death. These drugs fill a very real need. Doctors want pain medications that aren't addictive and patients, especially those with chronic pain, want pain medications that don't make them high or loopy. The cox-2 inhibitors fill that market. The drug companies did not create that market. Chronic pain is real. There are real problems with the way drugs are produced and marketed. But drug companies are addressing very real problems. And I've probably been off topic long enough.

    Re: An Addict's Act of Heroism (none / 0) (#26)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:59:01 PM EST
    These are all tough calls. Defending your life and defending the life of a restraunteur are both worthwhile. Rush somehow is forgiven. So can others. It is not that difficult to do. I speak from experience, drug laws are detrimental to us all. One of the heroin addicts I worked with was also a Vietnam War veteran who had seen too much of the war. The heroin made him forget and helped him cope. The avenue he chose was maybe the wrong path, nonetheless, it was what he did. He also died of an overdose. My belief is that it could have been entirely preventable. If you want to call it an agenda, so be it. I call it a saner approach to the drug problems that now plague our society. Legal or illegal drugs, people use them, whether necessary or not. It can be different. I reiterate, what is being done is a wrong-headed policy. It just doesn't work.

    An Addict's Act of Heroism | 26 comments (26 topical)