News (Media Awareness Project) - CN BC: Column: Crackdowns Won't Work. Decriminalize Drugs. |
| Title: | CN BC: Column: Crackdowns Won't Work. Decriminalize Drugs. |
| Published On: | 2009-06-08 |
| Source: | Gabriola Sounder (CN BC) |
| Fetched On: | 2009-06-11 04:10:27 |
CRACKDOWNS WON'T WORK. DECRIMINALIZE DRUGS.
Drug users, like most normal people, would prefer not to go to
prison. Cracking down on drugs or locking up petty offenders is
expensive, and won't solve the problem.
Drug users need help, not jail time, but laws that punish them drive
them away from the help they need. If they ask for help, they have to
admit they use drugs, which opens them up to the possibility of prosecution.
In order to provide drug users the help they need, a good first step
would be to quit threatening to lock them up. That strategy keeps
them both hidden and addicted.
Decriminalizing the drugs, which will remain illegal, eliminates the
risk of jail time, which encourages people to seek help. Financially,
the money that would have gone to incarcerate drug users goes instead
to helping them clean themselves up.
This would all sound like a delightful fantasy, if we weren't being
led by example: Portugal.
Portugal decriminalized consumption and possession for personal use
of all types of drugs on July 1, 2001. Its strategy is based on
"containing and reducing the negative effects of substance abuse"*.
Instead of a jailor, people are sent to a panel consisting of a
psychologist, a social worker, and a legal advisor who determine how
they can best help the drug user with their problems.
According to a Cato Institute report, drug use and HIV infections
from needles dropped while people seeking treatment doubled.
Decriminalization does not appear to result in increased drug use.
What does this mean for Canadians? A hard line on this kind of crime
would run counter to actually solving the problem. If you reduce drug
use by decriminalization and counselling, it would follow that other
crimes that accompany drug use would decline as well.
As a country, we will be much farther ahead if we help these people
work through their problems rather than lock them up. It's time for a
rethink on national drug policy.
*Rand Monograph Report: Guidelines for Implementing and Evaluating
the Portuguese Drug Strategy
Drug users, like most normal people, would prefer not to go to
prison. Cracking down on drugs or locking up petty offenders is
expensive, and won't solve the problem.
Drug users need help, not jail time, but laws that punish them drive
them away from the help they need. If they ask for help, they have to
admit they use drugs, which opens them up to the possibility of prosecution.
In order to provide drug users the help they need, a good first step
would be to quit threatening to lock them up. That strategy keeps
them both hidden and addicted.
Decriminalizing the drugs, which will remain illegal, eliminates the
risk of jail time, which encourages people to seek help. Financially,
the money that would have gone to incarcerate drug users goes instead
to helping them clean themselves up.
This would all sound like a delightful fantasy, if we weren't being
led by example: Portugal.
Portugal decriminalized consumption and possession for personal use
of all types of drugs on July 1, 2001. Its strategy is based on
"containing and reducing the negative effects of substance abuse"*.
Instead of a jailor, people are sent to a panel consisting of a
psychologist, a social worker, and a legal advisor who determine how
they can best help the drug user with their problems.
According to a Cato Institute report, drug use and HIV infections
from needles dropped while people seeking treatment doubled.
Decriminalization does not appear to result in increased drug use.
What does this mean for Canadians? A hard line on this kind of crime
would run counter to actually solving the problem. If you reduce drug
use by decriminalization and counselling, it would follow that other
crimes that accompany drug use would decline as well.
As a country, we will be much farther ahead if we help these people
work through their problems rather than lock them up. It's time for a
rethink on national drug policy.
*Rand Monograph Report: Guidelines for Implementing and Evaluating
the Portuguese Drug Strategy
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