Decriminalizing good for public health
Re ‘Too many people are dying,’ July 10 The chief medical officer of health’s call for the decriminalization of drugs for personal use is a call that the board of health and the federal government should heed.
We are in the middle of an unprecedented loss of life due to drug overdoses. Deaths include people with multiple drug addictions and people who have become addicted to opiates because of pain. This is an area where people have clear political and philosophical differences, but as a psychiatrist and researcher, I aim to focus on science to help us make the best decisions. There are challenging decisions to make because traditional approaches to stop these deaths have only been partially effective. We need to try something new.
If the aim is to decrease deaths and harms, evidence from across the world has shown that interventions — such as supervised injection sites and needle exchange programs — reduce the risk of overdose and prevent the spread of disease. Equally important, they also help people be less isolated by their drug use, thus increasing social support and their ability to seek help and treatment. Diversion programs get people the treatment they need, rather than a prison sentence.
Decriminalization would further support these efforts and could also reduce criminal justice costs and concentrate law enforcement resources on preventing serious and violent crime. This move would also mitigate other systemic problems that go hand in hand with criminalization of drug use, such as the farreaching consequences of a criminal conviction and the unfair racial bias when it comes to enforcement and sentencing for drug crimes.
Almost two decades since Portugal decriminalized drug use, the country has seen reduced rates of problematic and adolescent drug use, fewer drug arrests, reduced incidence of HIV/ AIDS, reduction in drug-related deaths, and a significant rise in people receiving treatment.
Decriminalization is not only a good decision for public health. It also reframes the moral judgment and stigma society places on people with drug use problems. Systemic inequities and social factors that contribute to drug use will persist, but decriminalization will remove barriers to addressing these factors and allow us to move toward a system where vulnerable people are supported rather than punished. Dr. Kwame McKenzie,