High Price

The number of drug-induced deaths has dropped, as have overall rates of drug use, especially among young people (15–24 years old). In general, drug use rates in Portugal are similar, or slightly better, than in other European Union countries. 2 In other words, Portugal’s experiment with decriminalization has been moderately successful. No, it didn’t stop all illegal drug use. That would have been an unrealistic expectation. Portuguese continue to get high, just like their contemporaries and all human societies before them. But they don’t seem to have the problem of stigmatizing, marginalizing, and incarcerating substantial proportions of their citizens for minor drug violations. Together, these are some of the reasons that I think decriminalization should be discussed as a potential option in the United States.
    “So, why isn’t decriminalization of all illegal drugs given serious consideration in this country?” yelled a deceptively aged man standing in the center of the room. The salt-and-pepper hair and creases in his face suggested he was in his late forties or early fifties, but his skinny jeans and Chuck Taylor Converse sneakers implied he was much younger. I replied, “Of course, the answer to this question will vary depending upon who is being asked to address it. And consideration of all of the possible answers is beyond the scope of this talk.” In the preceding pages, however, I have tried to provide the reader with information that can allow one to address this question in a more critical manner. Briefly, we’re too afraid of these drugs and of what we think they do. Our current drug policies are based largely on fiction and misinformation. Pharmacology—or actual drug effects—plays less of a role when policies are devised. As such, we have been bamboozled to believe that cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine, or some other drug du jour is so dangerous that any possession or use of it should not be tolerated and deserves to be severely punished. Decriminalization is inconsistent with this misguided perspective.
    In order to begin a serious national discussion about decriminalization, first, the public will have to be reeducated about drugs, separating the real potential dangers from monstrous or salacious fable. While I hope this book is a significant step in that direction, others (for example, scientists and public health officials) will also be needed in our reeducation efforts. And given how entrenched some drug myths are, one should not expect change to occur within a short period. This will engender considerable disappointment and frustration. I am reminded of the words of my dear friend Ira Glasser, former director of the American Civil Liberties Union, when he was asked how long it will take for us to see meaningful drug policy reform. Ira responded, “The fight for justice is not a sprint . . . it’s a marathon relay race. You can’t see where the track ends. You can just take the baton and run as hard as you can and as fast as you can and as far as you can. . . .”
    Ira’s comments also remind us that reeducation of the public about drugs will take a team effort. For one, scientists who study illegal drugs can be extremely helpful in this process. But you should also know that scientists are not all equal in their ability to think critically and rationally about drugs. For example, a researcher who studies the neurotoxic effects (causing damage to brain cells) of MDMA in rodents is not necessarily the best person to educate the public about that drug’s effects on people. In their experiments, these researchers typically inject very large amounts of the drug several times a day, for consecutive days. In many experiments, the animal is given as much as ten times the amount of drug that a human would take. So it wouldn’t be surprising that MDMA, given in these large doses, can cause damage to brain cells. What is surprising, however, is that some scientists, on the basis of these results, communicate dire warnings to the public that MDMA should not be used even once because it causes brain damage. With teammates like this, you don’t need opponents. I assure you that if you administered similar excessively large alcohol or nicotine doses to animals, you would observe similar or even more toxic effects. But these findings are probably not relevant to human drug use because we take considerably smaller amounts of drug.
    Given the vast amount of conflicting information, I