Drugs: Let’s Decriminalize Them
The United States law enforcement arrests more than 1.5 million people annually for drug-related causes. More than 80% of these arrests are only possession-based with no violent breaches, according to a report by the Drug Policy Alliance.
Instead of preventing drug use, the strict laws and policies of America’s war on drugs continue to drive mass incarceration and criminalization. Its failure brings the question of alternative, effective solutions for the drug problem.
Strangely, Portugal decided to decriminalize possession and use of drugs in 2001. Individuals with a supply of less than 10-days of any unauthorized drug became exempt from arrests. On the contrary, they obtained a citation and a required appearance in front of a panel of social, psychological and legal experts. Whereas, repeated offenders received treatment options.
As a result, Portugal’s circumstances profoundly improved in merely one year, according to Vice News. The rate of HIV infections in plummeted from 1,016 incidents to 56. Drug overdose deaths also dived from 80 to 16. Remarkably, Portugal currently has a drug-induced death rate that is five times lower than the European Union’s average.
“People use drugs for one of two reasons — either to potentiate pleasures or relieve unpleasure — and the types of drugs and the type of people who use drugs carries a lot according to the conditions of life in the country,” Werner Sipp, the International Narcotics Control Board’s former president.
Drug use, selling and trafficking remains illegal in Portugal. However, the country’s decriminalization of minor offenses reduced drug stigmatization. Portugal believed in its people, giving struggling users hope. Many took the opportunities to improve their circumstances through treatment.
Contrastingly, the U.S.’ drug policies have produced an over-filling of jails and prisons, branding of millions (with no prior record) as “criminals” forever, and intensifying of drug-related death, disease and distress.
History is often said to repeat itself. What has repetitively failed in the past is likely to fail again. Different results require different approaches. So, the persistence of the U.S.’ current drug minimization strategies will not suddenly change the outcome. The U.S. could also invest more money into recovery and treatment options, rather than its prison system. Following Portugal’s reforms, 25 other countries have decriminalized drugs to some degree. So then, why is America, the world’s most powerful country, still disregarding globally successful models to deal with its drug problem?
