For the first time in decades, there is positive signs sing The overdose crisis finally subsided. What is behind this progress is subject to debate, but one likely driver is policy reform.
New changes to outdated laws less trouble for drug treatment saves lives drugs, good access to the overdose antidote naloxoneand legal other proven harm reduction measures.
One of the most important reforms is the rapid increase in effective drug treatment behind bars. Based on this policy, millions of people are still arrested for drug possession in the US every year. Those who re-enter society after a period of detention are up to 130 times more likely overdose deaths than the general public. The US Department of Justice and others have filed dozens of lawsuits to force prisons and jails for overcome the catastrophic risk of fatal re-entryand they achieved impressive results. At the same time, some countries have significantly reduced their reliance on arrest and imprisonment as a drug control tool.
Despite the positive news, we will not end the crisis. While tens of thousands continue to die from overdoses, many of the problems are related to other drugs. This is why a reprieve from spiraling fatality rates should be seen as an opportunity to do more than what is working, while dismantling antiquated policies that have been toxic to public health.
The Biden administration new proposal for reclassification weed from Schedule I drugs (along with heroin) to Schedule III (along with Adderall) fail to meet this challenge. While this may seem like progress, it risks adding another chapter to the long history of misguided drug regulation in the United States.
Others have risen equality and practical concerns about this proposal. Schedule III drugs are highly controlled. In keeping with the chaotic design of American drug regulation, this category includes a wide range of inappropriate drugs. This classification includes ketamine as well as Adderall, and the life-saving opioid treatment drugs Suboxone and – most strangely – testosterone are used in hormone replacement and gender-affirming treatments. The drugs are legal, but their possession and distribution outside of a medical context is still criminalized by federal and state laws.
A much bigger concern is putting marijuana into Schedule III content in America’s deeply flawed pharmaceutical system. This system is well known for high cost, chronic deficiency and gaping disparities. Vital treatments are often out of reach, especially for marginalized populations.
The pharmaceutical sector handles controlled substances particularly poorly. Conceived during President Nixon’s “war on drugs,” the Controlled Substances Act designed to balance access and control for “dangerous” drugs. This regulatory framework has constantly fail to strike that balance, harms public health.
The current overdose crisis is a stark illustration of this dysfunction. Loose regulation of Schedule III opioid painkillers begins the initial wave of overdose death, when barriers to pain treatment and addiction treatment have intensified. recently, lack of stimulant drugs such as Adderall has further highlighted the system’s flaws in managing important control treatments.
The defects of the system are so severe that it cannot manage the most basic functions. Figure Schedule III is a rudderless, old ship taking in the water. Adding weed is like collecting a lot of new cargo on this sinking ship.
Keeping cannabis within the framework of a controlled substance also ignores its various uses outside of healthcare. This leaves the recreational market in legal limbo – a blind spot for cultural and spiritual practices which has long been a part of cannabis use.
Most tragically, the current Biden administration’s proposal is a failure of imagination. It attempts to replace one broken system with another inefficient regulatory regime, missing the critical opportunity to rethink our approach. With other Schedule I substances such as psilocybin and MDMA being considered for rescheduling, and with the use of marijuana. recording level in the new year, there is a lot of urgency to build a modern regulatory structure that can steward our complex and diverse use of psychoactive drugs into the 21st century.
Leo Beletsky is a drug policy researcher at Northeastern University and UC San Diego. Title Shaleen and Chanel Lindsay is a board member at the Parabola Center for Law and Policy.
