Legalization

When a loved one dies of an overdose—and when we worry about protecting our families and communities from the ongoing overdose crisis—it is tempting to divide people into innocent victims and dangerous (often outsider) perpetrators. But such stark lines are inconsistent with the realities of how people acquire and use drugs.

As people who have experienced the profound pain of losing loved ones to overdose, we understand that addressing this crisis requires compassionate and effective health solutions. We believe that punitive measures only exacerbate the problem, pushing individuals further into the shadows and away from the help they desperately need. That’s why we are calling on you to join us in advocating for a more humane and lifesaving approach.

The debate over how to handle drug use and distribution is complex, involving various approaches that significantly impact public health, safety, and criminal justice systems. Here we break down the key differences between four primary models: the criminal market, the decriminalized model, legalization, and the free market.

What has Portugal learned since they implemented the decriminalization of all drugs in 2001? How did the country go from having the highest rate of overdose fatalities in the E.U. to the second lowest? How did they go from having the highest rate of injection drug-transmitted HIV infections in the E.U. to the lowest rate of new HIV infections from intravenous drug use? What has been the impact of Portugal’s dramatic decline (60 percent) of people arrested and referred to criminal court for drug law violations? What can Orange County learn from Portugal’s accomplishments in a moment when the current Attorney General is seeking to roll back gains made by drug policy reformers in reducing the consequent harms of the drug war?

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