If you aren't solving for demand you either aren't taking the problem seriously or you have anterior motives to ending drug abuse.
That said, two possible avenues imo would be to reduce criminal penalties for people who are only hurting themselves, and also to try to make the US healthcare model more efficient - to make it like what seems like every other country already has. Those are two spirals that seem to trap a lot of already-burdened people, that drive them either to misery or living in extremis.
[0] https://www.economist.com/open-future/2018/12/06/the-antidot...
It solves the problem of peoples lives being (further) ruined by punitive policy. It opens up the possibility of seeking help without risking criminal conviction.
There are numerous recovery clinics in the US. I’m not aware of any of them having a policy of reporting their patients to the police. What would they even be arrested for? Having been high in the past?
Fear of criminal penalties isn’t a barrier to recovery in the US. I’m not sure where you got this impression.
It's an admission of past criminal behaviour and potential future criminal behaviour. People who are addicted are very likely to be in possession for fear of getting withdrawals as much as anything else.
It seems as though Portugal has had a lot of success with its approach.
The point of legalization is to solve the problems of having a massive black market for drugs. Getting people to quit using drugs is a different issue entirely.
Those are really biological issues.
If they were to make tobacco illegal tomorrow that also wouldn't solve for demand or addiction but would merely make it vastly more inconvenient for people to get their nicotine fix. But, as they've doing for (at least) the last 40+ years, if they try to get people to either not start or stop on their own (i.e. without jail time) then the problem just kind of fixes itself.
Two choices really and one leads to having the largest prison population on the planet with no real end in sight to the "drug epidemic".
Demand for tobacco id down specifically because there is ample activity and messaging to influence people away from interest in tobacco. If this same level of influence were applied for all drugs people would be generally much healthier.
Some substances are psychoactive, and can be pleasurable to take. That's at the root of the demand, and can't ever really be "solved"
Legalization solves several bigger problems:
- MIC/PIC over-criminalization for profit
- barriers to treatment
- higher prices plus criminal enterprises lead to violent crime, i.e., Mexico right now, and greater property crime of users to support habits
Solving economic, social issues is beyond the scope of drug policy but giving people hope, purpose, mission and security reduces usage. Having a functional community, society are preconditions to deterring substance abuse... whereas failed states and under/unemployment promote it.
No amount of self-righteous crusaders will change human behavior, but they can certainly make it worse with naïve policies.
And fills prisons, which cost tax-payers a LOT of money, with people that often did nothing to actually harm anyone (I'm specifically speaking of psychadelics, marijuana and steroid convictions).
