Drug policy
Drug Policy
by Gaudi
Drug abuse is probably not a problem you have thought about a lot, unless you know or have known somebody with serious drug problems. The topic of discussion presented in this article is whether drug possession should be decriminalized. What happens if drugs are decriminalized? Will drug usage increase or decrease?
Let’s start off with the history of criminalization of drugs. As in much of modern history the USA has been a very influential country. When we think about why drugs are banned we tend to assume it would be for the reasons like: usage is bad for the human body and addictive, you don’t want youth to use it etc. However, the guy who kind of founded the modern prohibition on marijuana in the 1930s, Harry J. Anslinger, gave a completely different reason. He took over the department of prohibition of alcohol, at the time when alcohol prohibition was ending. So he took over this government department that had nothing to do. Anslinger had said previously that marijuana was completely harmless, but to keep him and his department employed he decided to change his opinion to that it an evil thing. This is how the Federal Bureau of Narcotics was born. In the anti-marijuana campaign this bureau referred to one particular case, a man called Victor Licata in Florida who was a marijuana addict and murdered his entire family with an axe. In the propaganda was stated that marijuana usage leads to murder, suicide etc. In the 1960s drugs became symbols of youthful rebellion, social upheaval, and political dissent. That’s why in June 1971 president Nixon declared a ‘war on drugs’. He dramatically increased the size and presence of federal drug control agencies, and pushed through measures such as mandatory sentencing and no-knock warrants. The presidency of Ronald Reagan marked the start of a long period of skyrocketing rates of incarceration, largely thanks to his unprecedented expansion of the drug war. The number of people behind bars for nonviolent drug law offenses increased from 50,000 in 1980 to over 400,000 by 1997. In 2001, when George W. Bush arrived in the White House the drug war was running out of steam – yet he allocated more money than ever to it. By the end of Bush's term, there were about 40,000 paramilitary-style SWAT raids on Americans every year – mostly for nonviolent drug law offenses, often misdemeanors. While federal reform mostly stalled under Bush, state-level reforms finally began to slow the growth of the drug war. US Politicians now routinely admit to having used marijuana, and even cocaine, when they were younger. The assault on American citizens, however, has persisted. Progress is inevitably slow but there seems to be momentum behind drug policy reform right now. [1]
Now let’s look at the European Union. In many countries drug policy is comparable to the US. Of course, the Netherlands is one of the exceptions, since marijuana usage is decriminalized here since 1976. However the most exceptional drug policy is found in Portugal. In the year 2000 Portugal had one of the worst drug problems in Europe. A stunning 1% of the population was addicted to heroin. Portugal had been trying out the American system for years, getting tougher and tougher, with more and more people in prison. And the problem just got worse. So the government decided to set up a scientific panel, which should recommend on what to do. The panel came with the recommendation to decriminalize all drugs, from marijuana to heroin and transfer all the money currently spent on arresting drug addicts and spent it on really good drug treatment. So in 2001 Portugal decided to decriminalize possession and use of any kind of drugs, and the results have been remarkable. While in almost every other country addicts are cut off, they get put in prison and get criminal records, which makes it very hard to find a job, Portugal is all about reconnecting them. So they have things like subsidized jobs for former addicts. It seems like treating drug addiction as a public health issue instead of a crime worked out great. Statistics show a lot of positive effects of the new drug policy. The amount of drug addicts dropped 50% [2] And because drugs can be legally tested the amount of HIV-cases among people who use drugs dropped from over 1000 to under 100 [3]. In 2010 the Czech Republic joined Portugal in decriminalizing all drugs. Which country is next?
The most recent development on this subject is a leaked UN paper calling for decriminalization [4]. I’m very curious whether this report will once be officially released.
Thanks for reading, don’t hesitate to comment with your opinions!
References
[1] A Brief History of the Drug War. Retrieved October 30, 2015, from http://www.drugpolicy.org/new-solutions-drug-policy/brief-history-drug-war
[2] Ten Years After Decriminalization, Drug Abuse Down by Half in Portugal. Retrieved October 30, 2015, from
[3] The success of Portugal’s decriminalisation policy – in seven charts. Retrieved October 30, 2015, from
http://www.tdpf.org.uk/blog/success-portugal’s-decriminalisation-policy-–-seven-charts
[4] Briefing paper: Decriminalisation of Drug Use and Possession for Personal Consumption. Retrieved October 30, 2015, from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/bsp/hi/pdfs/19_10_11_unodcbriefing.pdf
[5] How Fox Lies Fuel The War On Drugs: Russell Brand The Trews (E238) Retrieved October 30, 2015, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBpypL2OYwI
