Why Do We Not Talk About Drugs?

Why do we not talk about drugs?

💣The War on Drugs began in 1971 when President Nixon gave a speech declaring that drug addiction was a “national emergency” and “public enemy number one.”🇺🇸


👩‍⚖️The government’s strategy was to reduce supply and demand of drugs, and thereby reduce drug harm. However, this strategy has failed. So long as there is a profitable market for drugs in rich countries and large numbers of easily-influenced farmers in poor countries, the supply of drugs will not drop. Despite government interventions, use of illicit drugs has increased in the last 20 years. Meanwhile, prices of these drugs are falling and drugs continue to reach users💊

🤔The War on Drugs is presented to target producers and dealers, however it has mainly targeted users. Addicts have a disease - incarcerating them doesn’t help them manage their condition. 1/14 of inmates try heroin for the first time in jail and 1/5 of inmates are addicted to opiates. Most dealers put in jail are the bottom of the supply chain - locking them up has no effect on the drug business since they’re easily replaced on the street🔒

The government has spent billions on drug “education” programs that focus on discouraging any use, such as DARE (Drug Abuse Resistance Education). DARE has been shown to increase drug use in participants in the short-term. Long-term, research has shown no difference between those who participated in DARE and those who did not. In 2001, the U.S. Surgeon General put the DARE program in the category “Does Not Work”❌

💉The War on Drugs has many negative consequences for public health. For one, needle exchanges - which provide heroin users with clean needles - are widely limited in the US, causing the spread of HIV through shared needles. It’s also increased levels of drug-related violence and crime, leading to injuries & deaths☠️

🤯After the the War on Drugs began 49 years ago, there’s been hundreds of thousands of people killed, millions put in jail, and over $1 trillion spent. However, there’s been no progress in controlling the supply and demand of illicit drugs - only arbitrary stigmatization of certain classes of substance use💸