Home News Support for Decriminalizing Drugs Increases; New Poll Finds

Support for Decriminalizing Drugs Increases; New Poll Finds

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Support for Decriminalizing Drugs Increases; New Poll Finds

According to a recent poll from the ACLU and Drug Policy Alliance (DPA), two-thirds of American voters support decriminalizing drugs.

The survey coincides with the 50th anniversary of Nixon declaring war on drugs. After years of having a system with mass criminalization; over behavior that experts now say should be treated as a public health crisis; the poll finds that 65 percent of voters want to end the drug war. 

Americans not only want to end the drug war, but the survey also found that 66 percent support “eliminating criminal penalties for drug possession and reinvesting drug enforcement resources into treatment and addiction services”. Advocates refer to this as decriminalization. 

ACLU Poll Results

If we look at the numbers based on party affiliation; 83 percent of Democrats, 85 percent of independents, and 82 percent of Republicans consider the war on drugs a failure. 

“On this 50th anniversary of the drug war, President Biden must make good on his campaign promises and take steps to begin dismantling the system of over-policing and mass incarceration that is endemic to the war on drugs,” Udi Ofer, director of the ACLU’s Justice Division, said

The study went even further and found that 64 percent of voters back repealing mandatory minimum sentences in drug cases. 61 percent support commuting sentences for drug-related convictions. Finally, 63 percent said the government should treat drug use as a public health issue instead of a criminal justice one. 

Calling For A Change

“It’s time to adopt a new approach that treats substance use as a public health issue rather than a criminal justice one,” Ofer said. He went on to call upon the Biden administration to commute the sentences of people in federal prison for drugs. 

During Biden’s political campaign, he voiced support for ending criminal penalties, like incarceration,  for low-level drug cases. He said, “nobody should be going to jail for the use of drugs”. However, his administration has yet to take action to redirect federal policy on decriminalizing drugs. 

After 50 years in the war on drugs, drug possession remains the most arrested offense in the United States. 

“We deserve to live in a world where the health and safety of our communities is paramount, and that means eliminating all the ways in which we are criminalized and building an alternative response to get the support and help we need,” DPA Executive Director Kassandra Frederique said. 

The ACLU and the DPA launched a media campaign earlier this month to request that the president “begin dismantling the drug war by commuting the sentences of people incarcerated in federal prison for drugs.”

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