Tag: Drugs

No, Seriously, Decriminalizing Drugs Kills People

A new study should lay to rest the debate over legalization.

Is banning drugs a bad idea? For decades, libertarians and progressives have insisted that prohibition creates more harm than it prevents, producing needless arrests and prison sentences while pushing users into the shadows where overdose is more likely. That argument won some purchase among the public: as of 2019, a majority of Americans endorsed making drug crimes into civil offenses instead of felonies, treating them more like minor traffic violations than something meriting prison time.

In 2021, the legalizer coalition got to run their experiment. That year, Oregon and Washington both effectively decriminalized the possession of small amounts of all controlled substances, replacing potential prison sentences with a regime of minimal fines. Proponents promised a steep decline in overdose deaths and improvement in public safety. But did that happen?

See the report HERE

Exclusive | At least 46 people rushed to hospital from NYC’s 2 overdose prevention centers, who says it doesn’t know what happened to them | New York Post

New York City’s two government-funded shooting galleries are supposed to prevent fatal overdoses — but at least 46 clients had to be rushed by ambulance to the nearest hospital in cardiac arrest or with life-threatening strokes or seizures, records show.
— Read on nypost.com/2025/12/07/us-news/at-least-46-people-rushed-to-hospital-from-nycs-2-overdose-prevention-centers-who-says-it-doesnt-know-what-happened-to-them/

Drug Decriminalization, Fentanyl, and Fatal Overdoses in Oregon | Law and Medicine | JAMA

At the time of this posting, the article was available “open access.”

This cohort study examines the association of decriminalization of drug possession with fatal drug overdose rates in Oregon while accounting for the rapid
— Read on jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2823254

Report: Portland Measure 110 had little impact on law enforcement | kgw.com

A second report from Portland State University researchers looked at Measure 110’s impact on police stops, searches and arrests — finding little link to a decline.
— Read on www.kgw.com/article/ news/local/the-story/measure-110-oregon-psu-drug-crime-report-study/283-fec1e85b-f68d-440f-a267-83107aa2bebb

Get the 2nd year report here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1MsT3hgYZb9schz3FDs3yzxzBNB_rjR-H/view?usp=drivesdk

Drug Arrests Stayed High Even as Imprisonment Fell From 2009 to 2019

To better identify and understand recent changes in and effects of the use of the criminal legal system to address drug problems, The Pew Charitable Trusts analyzed publicly available national data on drug arrests and imprisonment, drug treatment, and harm from drug misuse from 2009 through 2019—the most recent decade for which data is available.
The study found divergent enforcement trends—high rates of arrest but substantially reduced incarceration—coupled with a lack of treatment options and high mortality rates among people with illicit drug dependence.

  • Drug possession arrests held steady at more than a million a year, in stark contrast with a large reduction in overall arrests, which dropped 29%.
  • Only 1 in 13 people who were arrested and had a drug dependency received treatment while in jail or prison.
  • Racial disparities in drug enforcement declined. Arrests of Black people for drug offenses fell by 37%, more than three times the drop among White people.
  • Increased arrests of White individuals for possession of methamphetamine offset declines in marijuana arrests and drove the reduction in racial disparities.
  • The numbers of people admitted to and held in state prisons for drug offenses both fell by about a third, accounting for 61% of the overall reduction in prison populations and 38% of the total decline in admissions.
  • The decline in the number of Black people incarcerated for drug offenses made up 26% of the decrease in prison admissions and 48% of the drop in the prison population.
  • Drug- and alcohol-related mortality rates increased fivefold in prisons and threefold in jails despite the decreases in the number of people in prison for drug offenses.

See more HERE

The report can be downloaded HERE