Credit: Jared Rodriguez / Truthout
As COVID-19 continues to rage, another health crisis persists — one that is decades long. In the first year of the pandemic, the United States hit the devastating milestone of 100,000 overdose deaths, a nearly 28.5 percent surge from the record numbers we saw the previous year. Now, fentanyl is the leading cause of death in Americans ages 18-45. The reaction from many of our leaders has been to call for more arrests and criminalization, but this response is rooted in fear, not science. We have spent the last 50 years trying to treat a public health issue with a criminalization response, yet people are dying of overdose at record rates. This response is clearly not working.
The evidence is clear: Criminalization worsens public health outcomes. From making the drug supply more dangerous, to deterring people from getting help out of fear and stigma, to denial of […]
The criminalization of drugs has been a scourge to the population for the past 80 years. It has served to distort the economy, medicine, and law enforcement while reinforcing thugs. It is clearly a failed policy and should have stopped decades ago. Harm reduction has always been the way to go. I was attending a law enforcement training several years ago and the local prosecutor was presenting to the officers. I was astonished when he announced to all: “You will not arrest or incarcerate your way out of this problem.” At that point I knew the tide was turning.