IN DRUG-RAVAGED MEXICO, A NEW APPROACH

Mexico on Aug. 21 officially decriminalized possession and use of
small amounts of marijuana, cocaine, heroin and other drugs.
Specifically, a police search that turns up a half-gram of cocaine
(about four lines) five grams of marijuana (about four cigarettes),
50 milligrams of heroin, 40 milligrams of methamphetamines or 0.015
milligrams of LSD will not bring any jail time.

This might seem counterintuitive, given that Mexico is in the throes
of a real, live shooting (and torturing and decapitating) drug war
that has seen the deaths of 12,000 people since 2006. If Mexico has
been getting serious about trying to stop drug trafficking and
disassemble the vicious cartels that supply drugs, why "send the
message" that possession of small amounts of drugs is OK? Doesn't
that undermine the larger anti-drugs effort?

Aside from the fact that police and prosecutors in practice seldom
send small-time drug users to jail, given the resources required to
do so, there are reasons to hope, based on experience in other
countries, the decriminalization just might reduce the prevalence of
drug usage and help society get a better handle on drug addiction and
related problems, such as deaths due to drug overdose and
transmission of AIDS and other infectious diseases through dirty needles.

Indeed, there is considerable evidence, though it falls short of a
straight-line cause-and-effect relationship, that the more heavily a
country criminalizes the use of drugs, the greater the usage of those drugs is.

It is important to make a distinction between decriminalization and
legalization. Under decriminalization possession and use of certain
drugs is still illegal, but evidence of such usage is handled
administratively rather than through the criminal courts system.

Being caught with drugs therefore does not create a criminal record,
with the symbolic and concrete impact this can have on peoples'
lives. It turns out that under such a regime more drug users, freed
of the fear of a prison sentence or the stigma of a criminal record,
seek treatment, which is usually recommended and in some cases
mandatory for those caught repeatedly.

The country that has most completely instituted a decriminalization
regime is Portugal, which on July 1, 2001, decriminalized all drugs,
including cocaine and heroin. Constitutional lawyer and Salon.com
commentator Glenn Greenwald did a comprehensive study of the effects
of decriminalization in Portugal earlier this year, and found that
the drug abuse situation for most previously illicit drugs, including
overdose deaths and disease transmission, had improved significantly,
compared with the predecriminalization period and compared with other
EU countries.

In Portugal the consumption, possession and acquisition of drugs
amounting to a 10-day supply for an average user is an administrative
offense. Trafficking, defined as possessing more than a 10-day
supply, is still punished through the criminal law. Those caught with
small amounts of drugs are referred to what is called a Dissuasion
Commission, which has wide discretion as to whether to impose a fine
or other penalty. While the commissions cannot impose mandatory
treatment, they can make suspension of a fine conditional on entering
treatment.

Users found to be addicts can be subject to a wider range of
sanction, including suspension of the right to practice a licensed
profession and a ban on visiting high-risk locales or associating
with certain individuals. But the emphasis is on treatment.

One might suppose that decriminalization was instituted because
authorities had developed a laissez-faire attitude toward drug use.
In fact, as Greenwald writes, "the political impetus for
decriminalization was the fact that drug abuse - both in itself and
its accompanying pathologies - was an uncontrollable social problem."
Drug usage, drug deaths and drug-related disease all skyrocketed
during the 1990s under criminalization. A commission convened in 1998
came up with decriminalization as the most effective strategy to get
these pathologies under control.

Most EU countries have adopted more harm-reduction-oriented policies
than the U.S. has, including several that have depenalized (no jail
time) marijuana possession. But Portugal is the only country that has
gone all the way to decriminalization.

Some predicted a dramatic increase in drug usage and "drug tourism."
Paulo Portas of the conservative Popular Party said: "There will be
planeloads of students heading for [Portugal] to smoke marijuana and
take a lot worse, knowing we won't put them in jail. We promise sun,
beaches and any drug you want." Didn't happen. Since
decriminalization roughly 95 percent of those cited for drug offenses
have been Portuguese.

In fact, the results have been dramatic - in the other direction.
Since decriminalization lifetime prevalence rates (any consumption
over a lifetime) have decreased, especially for the critical
adolescent-young-adult population cohort. For 13-15-year-olds the
rate decreased from 14.1 percent in 2001 to 10.6 percent in 2006. For
16-18-year-olds, the lifetime prevalence rate, which had increased
from 14.1 percent in 1995 to 27.6 percent in 2001, fell to 21.6
percent in 2006. Perhaps most significantly, heroin use, which
officials felt was the most socially destructive drug, fell from 2.5
percent to 1.8 percent from 1999-2005.

The number of drug-related HIV and AIDS cases has declined
substantially every year, as have Hepatitis B and C infections and
drug-related mortality rates.

When compared with the rest of the EU, usage rates in Portugal, which
had been among the highest in Europe, are now among the lowest.
Portugal now has the lowest lifetime prevalence for cannabis
(marijuana) usage in Europe, 8.2 percent, while in Europe generally
it is 25 percent. Portugal has a lifetime rate of 1.6 percent for
cocaine, compared to 4 percent for Europe generally.

For whatever bundle of reasons, we should start getting accustomed to
the idea that harsh anti-drugs laws are often correlated with a
worsening of drug problems and decriminalization with bringing them
into manageable bounds. Mr. Greenwald cites a 2008 survey of 17
countries showing that the U.S. had by far the highest level of
cocaine use over a lifetime (16.2 percent to second-place New
Zealand's 4.3 percent) and the highest level of cannabis use. As
Greenwald writes, "stringent criminalization laws do not produce
lower drug usage, and some data suggest the opposite may be true."

Ethan Nadelmann, executive director of the pro-reform Drug Policy
Alliance, told me that while Mexico's move is encouraging, it would
be a mistake to expect the results to replicate Portugal's exactly.
Portugal prepared the ground with a thorough commission report and
achieved commitment from law enforcement, while Mexico decriminalized
smaller amounts, still has a culture of corruption, and may be less
prepared to implement the new law, especially when it comes to
offering treatment.

I would add that Mexico makes no provision for acquisition of drugs,
which is likely to leave the black market largely undisturbed and
still powerful. Decriminalization combined with a determination to
end trafficking can leave users still dependent on the black market
as is still the case for all too many medical patients in California.
The way to undermine a black market is to allow a white market to emerge.

Nonetheless, Mexico's move, combined with a court decision in
Argentina last week that will have a similar impact on small-time
users, has the potential to put a significant dent in the religion of
prohibitionism. Now if we can just get politicians in the U.S. to pay
attention.