OR Is Right

OR (so to speak) maybe I should say Oregonians did the right thing in the recent election in voting to decriminalize drug use, as Drug Policy Alliance executive director Kassandra Frederique describes in this video. Let's hope the legislature enacts the law and the governor signs it.

Every time DEA boasts of another, larger drug bust, they prove the ineffectiveness of the so-called War on Drugs. All states, but especially the federal government, should repeal laws that pretend -- and fail -- to fight drug addiction by making possession and use crimes. Such laws have only bolstered the profits of the drug cartels, maintained counterproductive jobs in law enforcement and the prison system and exacerbated the harm associated with drug use.

Meanwhile, the real killer drugs, alcohol and tobacco, receive scant attention.

Repeal the Controlled Substances Act. Fifty years of harm is enough.

Berry Edwards, MD