WOLA's Coletta Youngers and John Walsh wrote an article published in America's Quarterly today, Drug Decriminalization: A Trend Takes Shape. They explain how harsh anti-drug laws have failed to stem apparently rising drug use, and incarceration rates are climbing-up 40 percent on average in Mexico and South America over the last decade-with more drug users and low-level dealers behind bars. But high-level drug traffickers carry on with impunity.WOLA's Coletta Youngers and John Walsh wrote an article published in America's Quarterly today, Drug Decriminalization: A Trend Takes Shape. They explain how harsh anti-drug laws have failed to stem apparently rising drug use, and incarceration rates are climbing-up 40 percent on average in Mexico and South America over the last decade-with more drug users and low-level dealers behind bars. But high-level drug traffickers carry on with impunity.
Increasingly, many countries are leaning toward decriminalization as an alternative approach, hoping that it will be effective both in reducing consumption and dealing with associated health problems. This approach treats drug abuse as a public health and social policy issue rather than as a criminal justice problem. The goal is to encourage addicts to seek help, reduce prison overcrowding and free law enforcement to focus on dismantling drug-trafficking organizations.
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