Did drug decriminalization cause a ‘Catastrophe’ in Oregon?
…reasoning [against Oregon’s Measure 110] presumably is that decriminalization encouraged drug use and attracted more drug users to the city, boosting demand and therefore black-market activity. But the violence that attends such activity, which is notably absent from legal markets in drugs such as alcohol, is entirely a product of prohibition. Just as Measure 110 did not improve the quality and consistency of illegal drugs, it did not solve the problem of black-market violence, which would require a more fundamental reform.
Decriminalizing drug possession, in short, is a halfway measure that reduces but by no means eliminates the harm caused by prohibition…. Notably, people with drinking problems generally are not subjected to compulsory treatment unless they commit crimes such as driving while intoxicated. Since alcohol is legal, heavy drinkers are free to ruin their health and their lives as long as they do not injure or endanger others. Drug prohibition also blurs another distinction that is commonly applied to alcohol: the difference between use and abuse. Anyone caught with illegal drugs, whether or not he is experiencing life-disrupting problems, might be required to enroll in treatment if he wants to avoid criminal penalties. That approach is akin to requiring treatment for all drinkers, including occasional and moderate consumers… there is nothing inherently illogical or unfair about holding them responsible for those choices when they impinge on other people’s rights. That means a heavy drug user who steals to support his habit is not immune from criminal penalties. It also means the government can justifiably regulate what drug users do in public, where their actions might offend, incommode, or alarm people who have an equal right to use sidewalks, parks, and other taxpayer-funded facilities… eliminating criminal penalties for drug possession does not require tolerating public drug use, defecation, or blowjobs. In practice, of course, a jurisdiction that decriminalizes drug use when every other jurisdiction continues to treat it as a crime may attract people inclined to behave in… ways… but those nuisances – which many major cities face, regardless of whether they routinely arrest people for drug possession – are a problem distinct from drug use per se.
Original Article (Reason):
Did drug decriminalization cause a ‘catastrophe’ in Oregon?
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