The Entire U.S. Drug Policy Should Be Overhauled

It has become obvious that the laws regarding marijuana are ridiculous. Marijuana should be legalized nationwide. But the real problem is wider -- all of our drug laws make little sense. We need to rethink all drug laws.

Here is just part of what Maia Szalavitz says about this in an excellent article for The New York Times:

The failure of American drug law, particularly marijuana policy, has long been obvious.

Finally, this October, President Biden ordered the Department of Health and Human Services and the attorney general to review what’s known as the “scheduling” status of cannabis. This legal process could lead to federal regulation of sales for recreational use or a national law that requires a prescription for marijuana. Mr. Biden also recently signed a law to ease onerous restrictions on marijuana research, and legislation is pending to allow cannabis businesses, now forced to use cash, to get access to banks.

Reform is much needed, with more than two-thirds of Americans favoring legalizing and regulating recreational use. Nearly half of Americans can or will soon be able to legally buy marijuana to get high in their state, which conflicts with federal law.

The details of new regulation, however, matter enormously. The current law, the Controlled Substances Act, is antiquated: It makes no scientific sense and grew out of legislation that was often driven by racist and anti-immigrant propaganda. While policymakers consider how to regulate marijuana specifically, they also need to rethink how the U.S. government classifies and controls psychoactive substances in general — not just drugs like marijuana and opioids, but also alcohol and tobacco.

The Controlled Substances Act was initially intended to regulate pleasurable substances that are risky. It has five categories, or “schedules,” which are supposed to reflect varying hazard levels. But it is filled with contradictions.

Schedule I, the most restrictive, bans the sale and possession of certain drugs for recreational use and limits their medical use to research. Those drugs include marijuana, heroin and LSD and most other psychedelics — all of which have wildly different risks. Each also has significant medical benefits.

The remaining four schedules put varying restrictions on medications. But some medically permissible drugs are more dangerous and addictive than some illegal substances — and the recreationally legal drugs alcohol and tobacco can be more dangerous than some prohibited ones and are not scheduled at all.

Initially passed in 1970, when Richard Nixon was president and alcohol and tobacco weren’t seen as drugs at all, the Controlled Substances Act needs a complete overhaul. . . .

Heroin addiction is the deadliest conditionin psychiatry. But neither LSD nor marijuana use kills by overdose, and marijuana doesn’t seem to have significant impact on mortality rates (the effects of LSD on life expectancy haven’t been extensively studied). While both LSD and marijuana are associated with psychotic experiences, lasting psychosis is uncommon. And recent research suggests that cannabis and psychedelics could actually treat some mental illnesses, including addictions. . . .

There’s no science to this system. The Controlled Substances Act was an attempt to justify existing legislation. Many laws prohibiting specific drugs had passed by the 1960s, often propelled by bias and propaganda and without consideration of relative risk.

For example, racist ideas about Black men who used cocaine and Chinese men who used opium helped push the 1914 Harrison Narcotics Act, which prohibited nonmedical use. The 1937 law that banned marijuana was fueled by racism against Mexicans and racist fears about Black jazzmen spreading both addiction and seductive music. . . .

But changing marijuana law isn’t enough. Psychedelics are already presenting similar regulatory issues, with some states already legalizing their use. And it’s unrealistic to think that all of the recreational drugs humans will ever use already exist.

Instead, we should consider creating a new, strict pathway for approval for safer substances that have both recreational and medical uses, like psychedelics — or, for example, some new drug with the benefits of alcohol, but less harm. Without such a path, cartels will continue to be the main innovators, introducing new and often-deadly products to millions without testing or quality control.

Better drug law also demands limits on the marketing and advertising of substances including alcohol, tobacco, cannabis and prescription drugs. As the opioid crisis demonstrated, permitting the marketing of addictive substances can be dangerous, whether aimed at doctors or consumers. Lax rules on commercialization are a disaster.

It’s unclear now how the Biden administration will act on marijuana. But in order to effectively regulate pharmaceutical and recreational drugs, we need new ideas.