Ending the War on Drugs Need Not, and Should Not, Involve Legalizing Supply by a For-Profit Industry

Abstract

Drug enforcement is unattractive, to put it mildly, particularly in the United States. Few try to defend current U.S. policies, let alone those from before recent reforms.The Bureau of Justice Statistics' report Prisoners in 2019 lays bare the toll (Carson 2020a). At the end of 2018, state prisons held 176,300 individuals whose most serious offense was drug-related. That was 14.1% of all state prisoners, slightly more for Whites (16.3%) and less for Blacks (12.7%). For 3.7% of state prisoners, the most serious offense was drug possession.

“When people who use drugs can’t differentiate between medical care and cops, it’s a problem.” Compounding risks of law Enforcement Harassment & Punitive Healthcare Policies

“…Given the long-term criminalization of non-prescribed drug use in most of the United States, simply engaging in the use of substances places PWUD at risk for law enforcement surveillance, intervention, and criminal justice involvement (Singer, 2007;Singer & Page, 2016). As of 2018, nearly 1 in 7 state prisoners were people whose most serious charge was drug-related (Caulkins & Reuter, 2021). By 2015, almost a third of U.S. adults ages 24-34 reported being arrested at least once in their lifetime, with rates disproportionately higher for Black and Indigenous people, and almost twice as high for men as for women (Barnes, Jorgensen, Beaver, Boutwell, & Wright, 2015).…”