The skyrocketing use of prescription drugs over the last decade is alarming, and the fact that the Attorney General is trying to solve the problem is an admirable goal. However, I believe it is too lofty.

The attorney general's plan of implementing a computerized database would doubtful attain the desired result of decreasing drug use. Ultimately, people will do what they want. It is a dismal reality, but reality indeed.

As Eben has continually reinforced, law is a weak-possibly the weakest-form of social control. Drug users will not change their habits as a result of their actions being tracked. (In a less serious, though analogous, situation, we all continue to use facebook daily, despite knowing that the corporation gathers and sells information about us each time we do.) Similarly, those using drugs have addictions, changing their biology, psychology, and social relationships. At the most basic level, we respond to our anatomical needs. A drug user, needing his/her fix, is going to satisfy that need, completely ignoring the force of the law.

Additionally, as you mentioned, substance use has become part of our social culture. Even in the law school, a place rife with ambitious and accomplished young adults, the majority of events lure us with promises of "Free Beer," "Open Bar," and the like. Moreover, we rationalize our behavior-whether it's a ritual coffee from the Halal Cart on 116th or the drag before bed every night-saying it's necessary to cope with the overwhelming "stress" of our lives. The law will have a tough time overcoming such psychological and sociological forces.

What most interests me about this problem is why exactly it happens and who it happens to. I completely agree that the problem is rampant among the upper echelons, a reality often ignored in our society. In Black's "Behavior of the Law" article, he stresses how poor and disenfranchised people have less law, and that the law disfavors. It is undeniably true that wealthier people, and those with close family and friends, tend to receive more sympathy when facing legal troubles. Maybe, for this reason, wealthy, privileged people believe they have immunity from the law, making it an even weaker form of social control than it already is. Thus, they use drugs, thinking the law won't, in fact can't, touch them. Additionally, though some people seem well-integrated on the surface, their psychological make-up puts them at the fringes, mentally apart from society, disenfranchised. A person less integrated in society is more likely to lose protection under the law. Ultimately, people will ignore the law as opposed to social, mental, and biological forces. For this reason, I regrettably doubt the I-STOP Bill could have any drastic impact (besides pissing off hard-working doctors).

That being said....can you put the link to the article you refer to on the Wiki?