Why All Drugs Should be Decriminalized Now (Video)
- The Influence
- May 17, 2016
- 1 min read
EndFragment
In an interview with Bloomberg TV, Bill Piper, senior director of national affairs for the Drug Policy Alliance, succinctly explains why the drug war has been a disaster and the way forward: decriminalization of all drugs.
“What the US and other countries have been doing for decades isn’t working. And it’s not for lack of trying,” he says. “The US has spent more than a trillion dollars, arrested tens of millions of people. And yet, drugs are cheap, potent, readily available in every community. And prohibition simply doesn’t work. It didn’t work for alcohol, during alcohol prohibition, it’s not working for marijuana and the other drugs.”
It’s not just about marijuana, which is being decriminalized or legalized state by state, Piper notes. “We have to look at the other drugs. We can’t arrest our way out of this problem.”
The first step is treating problematic drug use as a health issue, not a criminal justice issue. As The Influence has regularly reported, prosecutors have begun ramping up sentences for people who deal or supply others with drugs.
Asked how decriminalization would help people struggling with addiction—after all, wouldn’t it make their drug of choice more readily available?—Piper points out that the biggest reason addicted people don’t seek help is the fear of punishments like jail or having their kids taken away.
EndFragment
Comments