The real drug battle
The momentum to legalize marijuana has snowballed over the last few years and has quickly moved from the fringes of U.S. politics to the mainstream.
In just three years, the number of Americans who support it has jumped from 41 percent to 52 percent.
Colorado and Washington State made history last year when they became the first two states, and the first two political jurisdictions anywhere in the world, to legally regulate the production and distribution of marijuana, and many states are looking to follow them in the next few years.
On the cover of practically every magazine, and woven into films and tv shows in an increasingly sophisticated light, the marijuana reform movement has broken through as a legitimate political and cultural force.
We’re at a tipping point where it’s starting to feel like marijuana legalization is no longer a question of if, but when.
But what about the other drugs? My colleagues and I at the Drug Policy Alliance are committed to ensuring the decriminalization of all drug use becomes a political priority.
Criminalization is not only failing to effectively control drug use, it’s a barrier to protecting individual and public health. As long as drug use is a crime, people are going to be afraid to get help.
Decriminalization means nobody goes to jail and nobody gets punished simply for possessing a small amount of a drug. This is a model that has proven successful, resulting in decreases in diseases and addiction, without increasing drug use. It also preserves scarce law enforcement resources that could be used to stop violent and predatory crime. And perhaps most significantly, it would reduce the arrest and incarceration of millions of people, most of whom are poor or people of color.
continue reading the original HuffingtonPost story here
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