Drug control policies should focus on reducing drug-related crime, disease, and death, not the number of casual users.

Imagine a policy that starts by acknowledging that DRUGS ARE HERE TO STAY and that we have no choice but to learn how to live with them so that they cause the least possible harm.

Imagine a policy that focuses on reducing not illicit drug use per se but the crime and misery caused by both drug abuse and prohibitionist policies.

And imagine a drug policy based not on the fear, prejudice, and ignorance that drive America’s current approach but rather on common sense, science, public health concerns, and human rights.

These approaches start by acknowledging that supply-reduction initiatives are inherently limited, that criminal justice responses can be costly and counterproductive, and that single-minded pursuit of a “drug-free society” is dangerously quixotic.

Demand-reduction efforts to prevent abuse among children and adults are important, but so are harm-reduction efforts to lessen the damage to those unable or unwilling to stop using drugs immediately, AND TO THOSE AROUND THEM.

Most proponents of harm reduction DO NOT FAVOR LEGALIZATION. They recognize that prohibition has failed to curtail drug abuse, that it is responsible for much of the crime, corruption, disease, and death associated with drugs, and that its costs mount every year.

But they also see legalization as POLITICALLY UNWISE and RISKING INCREASED DRUG USE.

The challenge is MAKING DRUG PROHIBITION WORK BETTER, but with a focus on reducing the negative consequences of both drug use and prohibitionist policies.