On November 3rd, 2020, 59% of Oregon voters voted to decriminalize the possession of hard drugs. There has been a lot of misinformation spread on social media about what the passed measure actually entails, but this is a very good thing.
1 in 5 incarcerated people in the United States are locked up for a drug-related offense, and there are 1 million drug possession arrests that occur each year. Prisons in the US are overcrowded, and overcrowding leads to the gross mistreatment of our incarcerated citizens. This measure offers a path to rehabilitation for people suffering from drug addiction instead of throwing them into an already overused and damaged institution. These rehabilitation efforts will be funded partially by the state’s marijuana tax revenue and their prison savings.
Making drug users out to be criminals and incarcerating them makes it very difficult for these people to later find housing and a job, and can lead to an increased homelessness problem and even the deaths of many Americans. Drug addiction is a disease that 1 in 16 adults in the US suffers from, and it should be treated as such. By offering treatment to the people suffering from drug addiction, we give them a path to recovery instead of making their lives even harder.
Oregon is the first state in the US to decriminalize the possession of hard drugs, and I truly hope that it is not the last. This is a huge step for creating a better America- an America that focuses on actually helping its citizens and not corporations or government officials that benefit from the prison industrial complex. I hope in the coming years to see more states follow in the footsteps of Oregon and to see more major steps taken in the right direction towards an America for the people.