22 medical experts call for decriminalization of all nonviolent drug use

@@ medical experts call for the decriminalization of all nonviolent drugs.
(Image credit: JACK GUEZ/AFP/Getty Images)

A group of 22 medical experts have called for the decriminalization of all nonviolent drug use and possession, The Washington Post reports. The experts cited the failure of the war on drugs, saying the United States needed to "move gradually toward regulated drug markets and apply the scientific method to their assessment."

The experts, who met at Johns Hopkins University and the medical journal The Lancet, said that current prohibitionist anti-drug policies "directly and indirectly contribute to lethal violence, disease, discrimination, forced displacement, injustice, and the undermining of people's right to health." The report is timed just ahead of a U.N. General Assembly Session on drugs, which will re-evaluate decades-old policies that many believe promote outdated and ineffective ways of thinking about drug use.

The experts also cited examples of successful drug decriminalization in places like Portugal, where drug use, overdose rates, and HIV infections among drug users have fallen dramatically.

"The idea that all drug use is necessarily 'abuse' means that immediate and complete abstinence has been seen as the only acceptable approach," commissioner Adeeba Kamarulzaman said in a statement. "There is another way. Programs and policies aimed at reducing harm should be central to future drug policies."

Jeva Lange

Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.