Pubdate: Mon, 30 May 2016
Source: Boston Globe (MA)
Copyright: 2016 Globe Newspaper Company
Contact: http://services.bostonglobe.com/news/opeds/letter.aspx?id=6340
Website: http://bostonglobe.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/52
Author: Kade Crockford
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v16/n363/a08.html

COUPLE'S FEARS ARE REAL, BUT WAGING A DRUG WAR IS NOT A SOLUTION

There's growing recognition among public officials that substance 
abuse is a health problem that won't be solved by police or prisons. 
"We can't arrest our way out of the problem" is almost a cliche at 
this point, years into our regional opioid crisis. You wouldn't know 
it from reading "Opioid crisis hits too close to home for Salem 
couple" (Page A1, May 25). In detailing the fears of its protagonists 
- - condo owners in Salem - the article makes it sound like the only 
reasonable approach is to pay more police to put more people in cages.

People who use drugs are part of our communities. Throwing more 
police or more prisons at substance abuse won't help users or 
neighborhoods, as evidenced by decades of failed drug war policy. No 
one wants to see drug sales in their building. But instead of 
doubling down on failed policy, we should follow the successful 
Portuguese model: decriminalize drug use, provide people with safer 
drugs and injection sites, and shift funding from police and prisons 
to health care and treatment.

As our public officials say, drug abuse is a public health issue. We 
must stop looking to the police to address it.

Kade Crockford

Director

Technology for Liberty Program

American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts

Boston
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom