Svante Myrick's Brilliant/Crazy Idea

When I was a kid, I loved soda, and I mean L-O-V-E-D soda. I remember my grandparents' house in Westchester having a full stash of Pepsi in a garage refrigerator because they knew how much I loved it, and they're very good at spoiling their grandchildren. But at some point I learned what soda was actually doing to my body, and that it was probably worse for my teeth than crystal meth. So if you've ever seen me smile, you probably know I was able to kick the habit. But I can assure you it wasn't easy.

This, of course, is an embarrassingly ignorant excuse to talk about addiction. But we have to start at the very beginning since most people don't really understand what addiction is. It's not something that happens to people once they take an illicit drug. Addictive personalities are present from birth. You can see it in children who never stop watching their favorite movie or TV show. He'll watch Despicable Me or she'll never stop watching Frozen. I never stopped watching Thomas the Tank Engine, and that just transferred to soda, and then Lost, and then video games, and the list goes on and on.

Actual footage from the unreleased spinoff
Thomas the Dank Engine

That's the concept that most people can't grasp, but Ithaca Mayor Svante Myrick is not one of those people. He announced a comprehensive plan earlier this week to help treat the city's rapidly spreading heroin epidemic, and it's unlike anything we've ever seen in the United States before.

Myrick's calling for supervised injection centers, where registered nurses would administer and monitor heroin intake for the addicts in treatment. The idea would be to gradually wean them off the drug, and by doing so in controlled environment, you lower the risks of overdoses, infectious diseases, and other harmful consequences of having heroin consumed out in the streets.

It's an absurdly progressive plan, even for a borderline socialist like myself. But it's adopted from a program in Vancouver that's proven incredibly effective. And it's more reflective of attitudes in countries like Portugal, where they decriminalized all drug use and wound up in a better place. Our War on Drugs mentality probably makes this seem counter-intuitive, but you can't deny the numbers. And Svante Myrick appears to be just one of the few elected officials in America who understands that.

Other claims to fame: 8th place in the
Central New York Regional Drake Look-alike Contest 

You can tell from his picture this is a young guy--just 28--who brings a youthful perspective to an issue that has been stuck in 1985 for a while. But despite his age, he's lived through more than you or me could possibly imagine when it comes to addiction. His father was a crack addict, and his family spent quite a bit of time living in a car as he was growing up. He and his family wouldn't have survived without some of the services the government provided them.

His childhood helped form his adamant belief that public servants should do their job: serve the public. It's a novel idea, considering our country's leaders seem more concerned with punishing victims of addiction than helping them treat their diseases. But he believes a government should be promoting the good in people instead of trying to stamp out the bad.

Will this actually work? Most likely no, but that's not because it isn't a good idea. The plan will meet plenty of resistance from Republicans in the region, and Fox News will take it to task on the national level. Maybe it is ahead of its time, but that just means there's a time coming when more people will be accepting. On the off chance it prospers, Myrick looks like a genius, and every neighboring city plays copycat. Then every neighboring state. Then we'll see supervised injection facilities across the entire United States. Then the War on Drugs will finally have reached it's long-awaited peace treaty.

He may only be 28, but Svante Myrick is wise beyond his years. Crazy enough to dream, brilliant enough to put the dream to action.