Many problems cannot be solved through law enforcement. You cannot just shoot or handcuff your way out of public health problems. Our national experiment with using law enforcement to reduce drug use has failed. Congress enacted policy banning sale, possession or use in 1909. After 112 years it has not achieved its goal. This policy has failed in spite of billions of dollars spent and lives ruined by incarceration. We lock up a greater percentage of our own citizens than any other country on Earth. That should embarrass any democracy. Addiction is a medical, not law enforcement issue. We must use evidence-based practice, informed by research data as published in medical and public health peer reviewed journals. The jails have failed. Let’s try medicine.
David Bart, Bellevue