Portugal’s remarkable public health strides after changing its approach to drugs may not be replicable in other countries absent broader systemic reforms.
Articles on Decriminalization
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The proposed rescheduling of marijuana could have far-reaching implications in science, medicine and criminal justice. What is the best policy option?
Regulating drugs may seem radical, but taking the production and sale of currently illegal drugs away from organized crime and drug cartels is the most promising way to keep our communities safe.
Psychedelics are an opportunity to do better than our past drug control strategies. Adults should be trusted to make the right decisions, but policymakers should ensure they do so fully informed.
A police policy of not making arrests for simple possession is a way to essentially decriminalize personal drug use. However, confiscating drugs — even without arrests — can be harmful in many ways.
If sex workers have to pay taxes and have all the other burdens of business and employment, then surely their contracts must be honoured as well.
The repeal of outdated apartheid-era laws would have a far-reaching, positive impact on individual sex workers’ health and well-being.
Decriminalization helps recharacterize drug addiction as a chronic health condition instead of a criminal activity, reduces the stigma associated with drug use and improves treatment options.
As British Columbia begins a new era in drug policy, the drug poisoning crisis continues without an end in sight.
British Columbia’s bold experiment provides an opportunity to implement more balance in Canadian drug policy, and a more principled withdrawal from the war on drugs.
A youth group gives juvenile offenders a chance to advocate for change in the justice system.
Decriminalization is an important step in addressing the overdose crisis, but it is crucial that other approaches — like regulation — are also in place.
Decriminalizing medical and recreational marijuana may exacerbate racial inequality within the criminal justice system, among other things.
Top contributors
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Associate professor of education, University of New Mexico
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Senior Research Associate in Sexual and Reproductive health, Manchester Metropolitan University
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Clinical Professor, Faculty of Medicine, School of Population and Public Health, University of British Columbia
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Professor, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, University of Guelph
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Associate Professor of Public Policy, UMass Dartmouth
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Postdoctoral Fellow, Harvard University
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PhD Candidate, School of Population and Public Health, University of British Columbia
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Assistant Professor in the School of Criminology, Simon Fraser University
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Professor of Women's Studies and Political Studies, Mount Saint Vincent University
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Research Scientist at the British Columbia Centre on Substance Use & St. Paul's Hospital Chair in Substance Use Research and Associate Professor, Faculty of Health Sciences, Simon Fraser University
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Adjunct Professor of Philosophy, George Washington University
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Associate Professor of Law, University of British Columbia
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Professor, School of Public Policy; Dorothy Killam Fellow; CIHR Applied Public Health Chair, Simon Fraser University
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Research fellow, African Centre for Migration & Society, University of the Witwatersrand
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Associate Professor of Sociology, University of Maine