Finn Price/Staff Reporter
According to the Drug Policy Alliance, in America, drug possession is the most arrested crime with an arrest happening on average every 23 seconds. The idea of the decriminalization of all drugs is to replace arrests and imprisonment with fines and rehabilitation, it makes the opioid epidemic a public health issue not a criminal issue. These are real people not junkies and addicts.
In 2001, Portugal decriminalized all drugs, notes Transform, in a wildly successful experiment to reduce drug related social harm. While drug usage rates remain similar to those of 2001, they still remained below the European average. The HIV/AIDS diagnoses also dropped from 1,575 in 2008, down to 78 in 2011. Between the years 1998 and 2001, the number of people in drug treatment programs increased by 60% clearly, the experiment was working. Overdose deaths also plummeted from 80 in 2001 down to 16 in 2012.
According to the Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technologies in Health, the drop in overdoses was in part due to naloxone distribution programs which have also been implemented in Canada. Naloxone is a drug that reverses the effects of an overdose by steadying breathing and displacing the opioids in the brain. These programs allow people to buy and distribute naloxone to those without a prescription in the event of an overdose. Even if a person opposes decriminalization, it is extremely difficult to argue against naloxone distribution.
Harm reduction is a crucial element of dealing with the opioid epidemic and decriminalizing all drugs. Harm reduction comes in many forms including naloxone distribution, Opioid Agonist Therapy (OAT) or in more extreme cases Heroin assisted treatment.
According to the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health(CAMH), OAT is the practice of giving an opioid addict a weaker opioid that helps reduce cravings and can help ween the addict. Usually, the opioids are administered by or under supervision of a medical professional. It may sound counterproductive; however, it is much safer when compared to someone doing drugs with a dirty needle in some back alley.
A more extreme form of harm reduction is Heroin assisted treatment in which an addict is given a prescription for medical grade heroin which is given in controlled doses under medical supervision.
Another form of harm reduction is needle exchange programs and supervised injection sites which have been used in many cities including Vancouver. Needle exchange programs are programs which have opioid users exchange dirty, used needles for clean ones to prevent sharing needles and spread of disease. Vancouver also has a supervised injection site called Insite. Supervised injection sites can help reduce overdoses, reduce spread of disease and provide immediate access to health care workers, social workers and people who can help them get into social programs.
Given all this information, there is a clear method to deal with the opioid epidemic. It is obvious that to deal with the opioid epidemic in an efficient method, Canada needs to implement more harm reduction programs to begin the process of decriminalizing all drugs. In conclusion, evidence shows that harm reduction is a better way of dealing with addiction when compared to arrests and imprisonment.
Sources:
Decriminalization:
https://drugpolicy.org/issues/drug-decriminalization
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drug_liberalization
https://transformdrugs.org/blog/drug-decriminalisation-in-portugal-setting-the-record-straight
https://www.cbc.ca/news/health/drug-decriminalization-camh-1.6192785
Harm reduction:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harm_reduction
https://vancouver.ca/people-programs/safe-injection-site-and-needle-exchange.aspx
https://www.camh.ca/-/media/files/oat-info-for-clients.pdf
Images:
https://www.healthline.com/health-news/used-needles-littering-streets-parks-beaches