Drug Decriminalization Policies Work — With Properly Funded Treatment Services
Public Health,Drug Policy,Opioid Crisis,Healthcare
One of the biggest winners of the 2020 elections, across red and blue states alike, was drug decriminalization. With even many conservatives getting on board with decriminalization, it seemed as though the “war on drugs” might soon be relegated to the dustbin of history. The most sweeping of the 2020 initiatives was Oregon’s Measure 110, which decriminalized personal possession of all drugs. The leading precedent for the ambitious law was Portugal’s similar policy passed twenty years earlier.
These drug decriminalization experiments are coinciding with a fentanyl-driven third wave of the opioid epidemic, and conservatives are citing these rising overdose deaths to call for a return to the war on drugs. But a closer look at the experiences in Oregon and Portugal shows that decriminalization is not to blame: the real problem is lack of state support for addiction recovery.
