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Prioritize Health, End Criminal Penalties

Drug criminalization increases overdose risk, drains community resources, and creates instability. The Drug Policy Alliance advocates for a public health approach to drugs that prioritizes health, social support, and community well-being.

“ As a police officer, I saw that no matter how much we ramped up enforcement efforts, drugs still entered communities and people still died from overdose. The focus needs to be on connecting people to the care they need.”

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Lt. Diane Goldstein (Ret.)

Executive Director, Law Enforcement Action Partnership (LEAP)

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Solutions

To Prioritize Health over Criminalization:

  • End criminal penalties for drug possession.

    Shift drug policy from criminal penalties to public health, focusing on treatment, housing, jobs, healthcare, and crisis-response teams to provide effective support and resources.

  • Expand diversion or deflection programs that keep people out of jail.

    These programs help people avoid the criminal legal system by providing services instead of punishment. They improve health outcomes, public safety, and save taxpayer dollars.

  • Prevent criminalization from taking over addiction services.

    Health decisions should be made by the individual and a qualified health provider, not law enforcement. Jails are not health facilities.

  • Ensure adequate funding for addiction services. This includes psychotherapy, medications, long-stay treatment, and recovery centers, providing personalized and evidence-based support, reducing overdose risk, and improving a chance at recovery.
  • Eliminate mandatory minimums and sentencing disparities. These laws overcrowd prisons, worsen racial disparities due to targeted enforcement, and create unjust sentences that do not consider individual circumstances.
  • Restore rights for people with drug convictions. Offer retroactive record clearing and the removal of civil penalties for drug convictions so people have access to jobs, housing, and benefits.
  • Decriminalize and legalize marijuana. Americans support marijuana reform. As efforts continue, state and federal marijuana regulation should prioritize public health and safety and benefit people, not just corporations.

Americans want a health approach to drugs.

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Photo of a woman handing a man a brown paper bag and naloxone.

Most Americans support a health approach to drugs. This means focusing on reducing the risk of drug use and overdose, prioritizing resources and health services that help people recover, stay safe, and thrive. Yet, for decades, arresting people has been the United States’ default response to drugs. During that time, the drug supply has become more dangerous, overdose deaths have increased, and human suffering is more visible than ever.

Criminalization diverts funding away from care, creates barriers to housing & jobs.

Drug criminalization diverts taxpayer dollars and funding away from health services and treatment. Every 31 seconds, someone is arrested for a drug offense, while individuals seeking drug treatment face weeks- or months-long waitlists. Arrest records and felony convictions follow people for years, which can result in people losing access to housing, employment, and more.

Criminalization also perpetuates racial disparities. Black individuals and white individuals use drugs at similar rates, yet Black people are arrested more and punished more severely than white people.

Under criminalization, drugs have become more potent, drug use has continued, and overdose deaths have risen dramatically. It’s not stopping these things, rather it’s making them worse.

In jails and prisons, drugs are still available, effective treatment is rare, and overdose occurs. Arresting and jailing people suffering from addiction overwhelms cops and legal systems.  People cycle in and out of jail, ending up back on the street without meaningful care or support.

When the U.S. federal government criminalized all fentanyl-related substances in 2018, overdose deaths rose 60% in four years—from 67,367 deaths in 2018 to 107,941 in 2022.  Recent decreases in overdose death are due to health and harm reduction services.

Prioritize health solutions to drugs, not the failed drug war playbook.

The Drug Policy Alliance is committed to reducing criminal penalties for drugs so that a true public health approach to drugs can flourish. Communities need investments to prevent addiction, reduce overdose deaths, address public suffering, and create pathways to stability. This means expanded health services and accessible treatment. It also includes affordable housing, good-paying jobs, education, crisis-response teams on the street, and quality healthcare.

 

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