Is the war on drugs back on?

The Excerpt

USA TODAY

Daily News, News

4.4 • 1.2K Ratings

🗓️ 24 March 2024

⏱️ 15 minutes

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Summary

It's been just over 50 years since President Richard Nixon declared a war on drugs. Since then, drug policy at the state level has mostly been progressing toward legalization, embracing liberal attitudes that aim to destigmatize drug use. But that experiment may soon be drawing to a close. In the wake of surging overdose deaths, Oregon has recently moved to recriminalize drug use and possession. Are we back to square one? Kassandra Frederique, Executive Director of the Drug Policy Alliance, joins The Excerpt to argue that policy makers simply didn't put the right safeguards in place.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Wunderry Plus subscribers can listen to USA Today's the excerpt ad free right now.
0:05.0	Join Wunderry Plus in the Wundery app.
0:08.0	All of us agree that the gravest domestic threat facing our nation today is drugs.
0:17.0	Drugs have strained our faith in our system of justice.
0:21.0	Our courts, our prisons, our legal system are stretched to the
0:25.2	breaking point. The social costs of drugs are mounting. In short, drugs are sapping
0:32.1	our strength as a nation.
0:34.0	That was then President George H.W. Bush speaking in his first televised address from the Oval
0:38.8	Office back on September 5, 1989. Fast forward 35 years and a lot has changed with regards to how we view drug use, but have we really
0:47.3	evolved our policy since then?
0:49.8	Hello and welcome to the excerpt.
0:51.7	I'm Dana Taylor.
0:53.2	In 2020, voters in Oregon approved Measure 110,
0:56.6	making it the first state in the US
0:58.4	to decriminalize the possession of small amounts of drugs.
1:01.8	Today, the Oregon legislature has just passed a bill to reinstate criminal penalties for drug
1:06.4	possession.
1:07.8	Does the demise of Measure 110 signal a return to America's war on drugs.
1:12.8	Here to discuss Oregon's Measure 110 and drug decriminalization
1:16.8	is Cassandra Frérique, executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance,
1:20.9	the leading organization in the US,
1:23.3	working to end the drug war.
	...

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