Oregon vote: The war on drugs has failed
Oregon voted to become the first state in the nation to decriminalize hard drugs. Credit: Suffolk DA
In the tumultuous presidential election, a bit of important news may have flown under the radar.
Oregon voted to become the first state in the nation to decriminalize hard drugs. Perhaps this is the first step in the direction of recognizing the damage done by our seemingly endless war on drugs.
We needn’t go back further than March of this year to find a glaring example of the tragic consequences of the criminal justice approach to the drug problem. When police broke down the door of Breonna Taylor’s apartment in Louisville, Kentucky, in a murky, supposedly drug-related case, her boyfriend woke up, thought it was a break-in, shot once, injuring an officer, and police returned fire, killing Taylor. Demonstrations and outrage ensued.
With decriminalization of drugs, tragic scenarios like this could be avoided. It is well past time for reform, not only for the sake of innocent victims like Taylor, but for police who have died or suffered injury in this fight.
While some have suggested defunding the police or retraining law enforcement personnel, neither option addresses the crux of the problem: our misguided criminalization of a medical/mental health problem.
According to a 2018 fact sheet from the Center for American Progress, the number of Americans arrested for possession since 1980 has tripled, with little impact on substance-use rates.
There are almost half a million people incarcerated for drug offenses. Yet the drug problem seems to have gotten worse.
So, is decriminalization the answer?
In 2001, Portugal became the first country in the world to decriminalize all drugs. According to a 2018 Time Magazine article, Portugal’s "drug-induced death rate has plummeted to five times lower than the EU average and stands at one-fiftieth the United States."
Dealers still go to prison, but users are afforded medical services.
While no system is perfect, the fact is that both lives and resources have been saved with an approach that is more humane and effective.
Albert Einstein is credited with saying, "The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results."
The misguided war on drugs fits this description and must come to an end before more needless tragedies inevitably ensue.
Arthur Wellikoff of Malverne is a retired New York City supervising probation officer.
