Everyone knows that the war on drugs is a failure. Despite more than $40 billion spent every year on the U.S. drug war and 500,000 people behind bars on drug related offenses, drugs are as available as ever. But what is the alternative? What would happen if a society decided to treat drug use as a health issue instead of a criminal justice issue? What if we stopped the futile effort of using force to decrease drug consumption? What if we decriminalized drugs, not just marijuana, but all drugs like heroin, cocaine and meth?
We've heard the horror scenarios that opponents of drug policy reform recite: more addiction, more broken families and a crazy escalation of crime and violence.
On the other side, advocates for decriminalization or legal regulation say that we would be better off not criminalizing what's a health issue. They advocate for education, prevention and treatment instead of jail for drug abuse and leaving in peace those whose drug use does not cause harm to others.
So who's right? You might be surprised to hear that this isn't just about hypotheticals anymore. Portugal decriminalized all drugs 10 years ago and the results are in: decreased youth drug use, falling overdose and HIV/AIDS rates, less crime, reduced criminal justice expenditures, greater access to drug treatment, and safer and healthier communities.
July 1st was the 10th anniversary of Portugal decriminalizing drug use. In 2001, Portugal decriminalized the possession of small amounts of all illicit substances. Having small amounts of drugs is no longer a criminal offense. It's still against the rules; it just won't get you thrown in jail or prison. It's a civil offense -- like a ticket. Portugal continues to punish sales and trafficking of illicit substances.
In Portugal's thoroughly re-envisioned drug policy, police officers now issue citations -- but do not arrest -- persons found in possession of small amounts of illicit substances. People who receive these citations are ordered to appear at a "dissuasion commission," an administrative panel that operates outside of the criminal justice system. The panel, with two health practitioners and one legal practitioner, examines the individual's circumstances and determines whether to make treatment referrals, issue fines or impose other non-criminal penalties.
Decriminalization in Portugal actually helped reduce the stigma around drug use (without increasing it) and made drug use less politically difficult to talk about. It encouraged better collaboration between law enforcement and service providers, and allowed law enforcement to focus on large-scale traffickers, resulting in increased seizures of commercial quantities of illicit drugs.
The U.S. Drug Czar knows about Portugal's policy, but don't expect him to acknowledge their success. Instead we continue to wage our unwinnable war. June 17th marked the 40-year anniversary of the U.S. war on drugs, a punitive criminal justice approach to drugs that has cost taxpayers more than a trillion dollars, transformed the U.S. into the largest incarcerator in the world, failed to significantly reduce drug use, led to hundreds of thousands of overdose fatalities and HIV/AIDS transmissions, and created shocking racial disparities that exceed those of South Africa at the height of Apartheid.
Our 40 year war on drugs is proof of failure. Portugal is an example of an alternative. It is time for an exit strategy from our longest, costliest war!
Tony Newman is the director of media relations at the Drug Policy Alliance.
Follow Tony Newman on Twitter: www.twitter.com/TonyNewmanDPA
This all seems pretty reasonable. Maybe we should just go ahead and do this kind of thing in America. Can the police departments in Portugal offer any tips for departments in places like New York?
Look at this BS report they just released today: http://americansforsafeaccess.org/downloads/CRC_Petition_DEA_Answer.pdf
We may think that Prohibition is having seriously detrimental effects on consuming countries (and they are serious, indeed), but they pale into insignificance when compared to the extraordinary price drug producing countries like Mexico, Colombia, and many other countries around the world are paying.
In my view, what makes legalisation and regulation such critical an issue is the irrationality and devastating effects of Prohibition and the so-called War on Drugs. Therefore, the call for legalisation and regulation should be independent of what type of drugs we deem more or less harmful. I say, let’s legalise and regulate cannabis, by all means, but the same goes for other drugs, both soft and hard. Moreover, let’s legalise and regulate the consumption of all drugs, but the same goes for their production and distribution.
If we want to fight effectively against Prohibition and the War on Drugs one has to look at the whole picture, and not just at consumption. After all, what good is it to legalise the demand while the supply, the real villain in this story, as we have been told again and again, is left to continue prospering in its murderous business?
Gart Valenc
http://www.stopthewarondrugs.org
Can you come up with a connection?
B doesn't equal F.
The fact of the matter is that decriminalization has reduced drug use, crime, and cost of the judicial system, while increasing access to drug treatment and overall community health.
While it may be unintuitive, it IS a proven fact.
“The sole end for which mankind are warranted, individually or collectively, in interfering with the liberty of action of any of their number, is self-protection. That the only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilized community, against his will, is to prevent harm to others. His own good, either physical or moral, is not sufficient warrant. He cannot rightfully be compelled to do or forbear because it will be better for him to do so, because it will make him happier, because, in the opinion of others, to do so would be wise, or even right...The only part of the conduct of anyone, for which he is amenable to society, is that which concerns others. In the part which merely concerns him, his independence is, of right, absolute. Over himself, over his own body and mind, the individual is sovereign."
Well said, Mr. Mill.