The death of rising rap star, Lil Peep, and the labeling of overdose as the cause of his death, has prompted a discussion on the war on drugs, drugs in the music scene, and, most of all, the failing of the system that is supposed to help those who suffer from addictions.
In America, the “war on drugs” is, in summary, a huge criminal crackdown on drug distribution, possession, and use. Signed in by Richard Nixon, the war on drugs allows for strict punishment to be pushed upon those who use and sell drugs, as well as traffic. But is it really working? The answer appears to be, no.
The US still deals with huge death rates from drugs in general, with an estimated 64,000 people dying from overdoses in 2016.This includes prescription drugs, and 14,000 dying from heroin overdoses alone. The American approach we so commonly see to such high death rates is to simply pour more money into arresting, into targeting, and into raiding, but is this truly the best way? Studies have shown that while drugs themselves are illicit, and still very much seen as taboo, addiction is a habit that needs to be broken, and is often derived from struggles with mental health. With habits, it is more helpful to target the cause, and set small goals towards recovery, something that users are deprived of if they are imprisoned for their addiction.
Even if we ignore the notion that a great deal of drug addiction stems from previous issues, dealing with mental illness, or using illicit substances to deal with trauma or to suppress bad memories, the more casual users of psychedelics or MDMA don’t justify the means in which we attack and detain drug users. Nightclubs suffer due to the stigma and the criminal aspect that surrounds drugs, simply because they are places in which people take known ‘party drugs’. So how do we combat this? How do we discourage drug use without the threat of arrest and punishment, while also tackling drug dealing, trafficking, and drug-related crime? Portugal seems to have the answer.
Portugal took the large step of decriminalizing all drugs, including heroin and cocaine. While many saw the step as being something to be laughed at, a ridiculous notion that would backfire in the faces of government officials, it seems to have proved more effective than America’s ‘war on drugs’. Portugal’s approach allows users to step forward and ask for help, without fear of arrest. It combats drug addiction with the approach a doctor would take to any other sort of illness, and as a result, Portugal has the lowest drug-related death rate in the western world, with six people per million dying of drug-related deaths, as opposed to America’s total of 312. HIV/AIDs cases have reduced by up to 95%, and Portugal, whose way of targeting drugs was once the laughing stock of the western world, is now hailed as having the most effective drug treatment in the western world, and is looked to as something to aspire to be.
As well as this, Portugal’s music festivals offer drug tests, where users can check that what they’re taking doesn’t include anything that could be detrimental to their health, something which multiple other countries have considered including, and something that nightclub owners in the UK have, in particular, suggested offering in order to prevent drug-related deaths in their establishments. The drug tests allow for those who plan to use to be able to, again, without fear of arrest, ensure that they are as safe as they possibly can be.
When drug users are imprisoned and seen as criminals, it often hinders their recovery and is far from the best solution when it comes to weaning them off of substances, and away from their habits. While decriminalization is radical, in many people’s eyes, it may be the closest we get to a solution when it comes to the drug abuse epidemic that is spreading across the western world.
