1. PSY 302: Substance Abuse Chapter 12:
Decriminalization, Legalization, & Harm Reduction

2. Decriminalization & Legalization
An absence of laws punishing people for using drugs
Drug trafficking remains a crime
Major limitation or contradiction involved with this type of policy
Legalization
An absence of laws prohibiting use or commerce in drugs
Drugs restricted only to those below a certain age or only when used under certain conditions

3. Decriminalization & Legalization
Viewpoints are varied
Addictive drugs were criminalized because they are harmful; they are not harmful because they were criminalized
Our attempt to protect drug users from themselves, has backfired, as it did during the prohibition of alcohol

4. Decriminalization & Legalization
Pros
There would be a reduction in the resources necessary for drug law enforcement
Criminal organizations that are supported by drug trafficking would be eliminated
The aggressive marketing by traffickers aimed at expanding their customer bases would no longer be operative
Those who are dependent on drugs could lead more normal lives; less energies would be needed to maintain the habit

5. Decriminalization & Legalization
Pros
5. Less spread of disease related to intravenous use
6. Legalization would enable the use of social controls that inhibit antisocial, albeit lawful, behavior

6. Decriminalization & Legalization
Cons
There would be a huge increase in users
Cocaine, amphetamines, and heroin freely available to adults could be used by youngsters as easily as cigarettes and alcohol are
More people would be tempted to try legalized controlled substances, and lead to misuse
Legalizing all psychoactive substances would signal an acceptance
The easy availability of currently illegal psychoactive substances would reduce the incentive for to enter drug treatment

7. Policy: Focus on Causes
To develop a policy that answers these serious concerns, we need to consider the causes of drug use
Theories:
Drug use is a disease with a physiological basis.
Drug use is a psychological condition or personality disorder.
Drug use is a response to oppressive social conditions.
Drug use is simply the pleasure-seeking activity of hedonistic individuals.

8. Models of Legalization
There are three broad models:
Dangerous drugs can be dispensed only through government-controlled clinics or specially licensed medical personnel and only for short-term treatment purposes; unauthorized sale or possession entails criminal penalties
Dangerous drugs can be prescribed by an authorized medical practitioner for treatment or maintenance; criminal penalties are imposed for sale or possession outside medical domain
Dangerous drugs can be sold and used as tobacco and alcohol products are; that is, nonprescription use by adults is permitted

9. Medical Maintenance Issues
Would place greater trust in the medical profession and allowing physicians to treat addicts with a variety of drugs, including heroin
Added pressures on physicians
Questions concerning whether the individual is addicted
These clinics would probably not be popular in community
Some drugs would find way into open markets (street dealers)

10. Medical Maintenance Issues
On the other side of the coin:
Legalization would reduce the price of heroin, thereby reducing the incentive for dealing it
Lower price would also heroin attract addicts in large numbers and

11. Harm Reduction
In societies that practice this, the use of drugs is accepted as a fact, and focus is placed on reducing harm while use and misuse continue
Main characteristics
Pragmatism: Harm reduction accepts that some use of mind-altering substances is a common feature of human experience
Humanistic values: The drug user’s decision to use drugs is accepted
Focus on harms: The fact that a person is using drugs is of secondary importance to the risk of harms consequent to use

12. Harm Reduction Main characteristics
Balancing costs and benefits: A pragmatic process of identifying, measuring, and assessing the relative importance of drug-related problems, their associated harms, and costs and benefits of intervention is carried out in order to focus resources on priority issues
Priority of immediate goals: Most harm-reduction programs have a hierarchy of goals, with the immediate focus on proactively engaging individuals, target groups, and communities to address their most pressing needs

13. Harm Reduction Elsewhere
Netherlands
Dutch policy is based on the idea that drug use is a fact of life and needs to be discouraged in as practical a manner as possible
In place the “war on drugs” the Dutch have implemented a pragmatic and nonmoralistic approach whose main objective is to minimize the risks associated with drug use, both for users themselves and for those around them
They distinguish between “soft” drugs such as marijuana and “hard” drugs such as heroin, cocaine, and Ecstasy.

14. Harm Reduction Elsewhere
Netherlands
After some drug issues: harm reduction became the focus: If abstinence is not possible, then safer use of drugs and safer sex practices should became short-term goals
Drug users are provided with health-related education and a wide variety of treatment programs are readily available including methadone maintenance
Social service facilities include areas where drugs may be safely ingested

15. Harm Reduction Elsewhere
Netherlands
Drug prevention efforts in the Netherlands treat alcohol and tobacco, as well as heroin and cocaine, as dangerous drugs because legal versus illegal classification is not considered a sound basis for differentiation
The policy seeks to deglamorize drugs
The policy stresses individual responsibility

16. Netherlands Problems over the Past Decades
Amsterdam permitted drug use rooms where drugs could be consumed; obvious that drug dealers were in charge
Eventually these were shut down
Coffee shops becoming centers of criminal activity including large numbers of “drug tourists”
Eventually, more stringent restrictions were put in place

17. Netherlands Problems over the Past Decades
The Netherlands produces 80% of the world supply of Ecstasy
Officials do not consider the substance a major health issue and the government provides facilities where pills can be tested
Amsterdam has become a mecca for drug traffickers and drug trafficking
Liberal laws combined with world’s biggest seaport (Rotterdam), making it attractive to shippers of unlawful goods as well as lawful ones

18. Harm Reduction Elsewhere
Portugal
Since 2001, all drugs have been decriminalized to this extent: No criminal penalties exist for the use or possession of drugs for personal use—defined as a ten-day supply
Possession of larger quantities is an administrative offense, like a parking ticket
At the same time, they doubled their investment in treatment and prevention

19. Harm Reduction Elsewhere
Portugal
A study conducted by the libertarian Cato Institute—which favors legalization reports:
There has been a dramatic increase in the number of drug users seeking treatment
Slight increase in heroin usage but decrease in all the other hard drugs
Marijuana use decreased

20. Harm Reduction Elsewhere
What do these harm reduction attempts mean insofar as their relation to the United States drug problem?
Difficult to say
We are very different than most other countries
More research will be done leading to new drug laws
More legalization seems to be the trend for marijuana
Decriminalization for harder drugs is unlikely in near future