CPE Policy Director Scarlet Neath penned a response to The Washington Post’s editorial “Oregon’s bad trip comes to an end,” which suggested that the only tools available for decriminalizing drug use are “compassion and consequences.” In her response, she denounces what The Post called a “carrot and sticks” approach, and outlines a series of supports that can and do make a difference for substance users. Below is an excerpt:
One thing we do know is that the “stick” of incarceration is a hammer for which human beings with substance abuse conditions are nails. People don’t cure themselves of this insidious condition in jail or prison cells, and that’s not a new insight. A society that incarcerates people for their drug abuse is a society that wants to ignore a problem instead of making the effort to address it. It’s lazy, callous and doesn’t work.
And “carrots” must be more than the absence of consequences, such as jail or even the promise of an expunged record. Ideally, a non-police response would place such people in effective, easy-to-access treatment programs that offer in-patient care if necessary, and then support them on the long path to addressing this complex health condition. Making anti-addiction medication easier to access might be one carrot. Building affordable sober-housing options might be another. Incarceration would just be yet another consequence that does not help.
Read the full opinion piece at The Washington Post’s website.