Decriminalization now! — The Hofstra Chronicle

Picture courtesy of Haley Lawrence, Unsplash.

America likes to uphold a fairly image of itself and what’s deemed morally acceptable on this nation; we will fill the skies with smog, depart our residents to scrape by with out inexpensive healthcare, and wage struggle on international land’s soil, all whereas boasting our place as the best nation on this planet. However, per the fantastic requirements established by one President Nixon, the lingering impacts of the continuing War on Drugs proceed to hold within the air, condemning innumerous communities to the brunt of systematic violence and persecution.

It’s essential to make clear one factor off the bat; we’re, in fact, repeatedly mourning and worrying within the wake of the opioid crisis that impacts this nation, driven by Huge Pharma. The historical past and persevering with difficulty of drug criminalization total, nonetheless, is a staple of racism, as so many issues are, with the struggle on medicine being undeniably linked with the persecution of Black folks, indigenous communities, folks of shade and immigrants. 

“We knew we might­n’t make it unlawful to be both in opposition to the struggle or blacks, however by getting the general public to asso­ci­ate the hippies with marijuana and blacks with heroin, after which crim­in­al­iz­ing them each heav­ily, we might disrupt these communit­ies,” mentioned Nixon’s policy advisor John Ehrlichman in a 1994 interview. “We might arrest their lead­ers, raid their properties, break up their meet­ings, and vilify them evening after evening within the even­ing information. Did we all know we had been mendacity in regards to the medicine? After all we did.”

After we contemplate the implications of contemporary day criminalization, what communities are most frequently focused? Often, low revenue communities and communities of shade are those who face the brunt of policing and consequent incarceration, no matter what number of medicine are in a group compared to these within the communities of the well-to-do white and well-off. In the USA, Black People are five times as likely as their white counterparts to be incarcerated, regardless of making up a smaller portion of the inhabitants, reflecting the lasting influence of Nixon’s authentic technique. However overpolicing communities doesn’t inhibit drug use; it simply makes these communities afraid and lose belief in a authorities that has already let them down. 

The one manner ahead will not be by means of criminalization, however slightly by means of hurt discount. Think about the present standing of the drug epidemic in the USA; does the criminalization of medicine stop folks from utilizing them? No. 

After we contemplate each the insurance policies applied by nations like Portugal, which decriminalized the possession of all medicine in 2001, and the USA, which solely just lately legalized marijuana, we will see two issues: 1.) criminalization doesn’t successfully discourage drug use, and a pair of.)  solely insurance policies formatted with hurt discount in thoughts can successfully assist communities the place drug use is prevalent. 

Portugal isn’t the one nation taking this method to addressing drug use and misuse. Belgium, Estonia, Australia, Mexico, Uruguay, and the Netherlands, amongst others, all have various levels of decriminalization both in place or being thought-about. In response to a 2012 report revealed by Launch, the UK’s nationwide middle of experience on medicine and drug legal guidelines, “a rustic’s drug-enforcement insurance policies seem to have little correlation with ranges of drug use and misuse in that nation. Nations with among the harshest criminalisation methods have among the highest prevalence of drug use on this planet, and nations with decriminalisation methods have among the lowest prevalence, and vice versa.”

A report from the Cato Institute discovered that round $47 billion is spent attempting to police medicine in the USA yearly – cash that may very well be spent on group constructing tasks, enhancing infrastructure, strengthening the healthcare system, or increasing entry to training.

As a substitute, this cash is used within the failing Struggle on Medicine, giving rise to the unlawful drug commerce, leading to safety issues and violence that funnels medicine into city communities. A number of studies, actually, have discovered that growing drug legislation enforcement tends to result in increased rates of violence, in addition to increased rates of HIV and hepatitis on account of an absence of protected, sanitary choices. 

We will argue in circles about medicine and their influence on society till we’re blue within the face. The very fact is, persons are going to make use of medicine; whether or not it’s on account of genetics, to self-medicate, to distract from the oftentimes soul-crushing actuality we stay in, or simply to get excessive, persons are going to make use of medicine. It’s an unavoidable fact of their existence. And the actual fact is, you aren’t higher than drug customers, it doesn’t matter what it’s possible you’ll suppose. Now we have a selection to decide on compassion, slightly than persecution, in relation to addressing drug use on this nation. 

“A very human rights-centered drug coverage ought to guard human autonomy, cut back the hurt of drug use and curb the violence and exploitation produced by the unlawful commerce,” mentioned a 2021 report from the Global Commission on Drugs.

Harm reduction prioritizes simply that: respecting bodily autonomy, and lowering the quantity of social and well being penalties of drug use, as a result of they are going to be used. This implies offering accessible testing kits to make sure medicine aren’t laced, providing protected injection websites to maximise sanitation and security, increasing entry to naloxone and associated coaching, having choices to reduce unintentional overdoses, and having sources accessible if and when customers need them, not no matter that truth.