By Thomas C. Higdon
The writer is a person in recovery and co-chair of the Maryland Coalition on Drug Use, Treatment, and Recovery.
As a survivor of substance use disorder, I’ve seen firsthand the devastating consequences of drug use — lives lost, families destroyed, and communities devastated. However, after taking a hard look at the data, it is clear that the harms traditionally associated with drug use (e.g., overdose, crime, poverty) are caused and/or exacerbated by long standing drug prohibition policies.
To put it bluntly, the war on drugs has only made things worse. That’s why I support House Bill 1057 — a legislative proposal being considered by the General Assembly that would create a task force to study drug use in our state and make recommendations for a new path forward.
Drug prohibition — 52 years of failure!
President Nixon announced his “war on drugs” almost 52 years ago and it has not been an inexpensive undertaking. To date, the United States has spent more than $1 trillion on drug interdiction and enforcement. And what did we get for all that money? Since 1980, the number of people incarcerated for drug related offenses in the United States increased 1,161%, to 353,000 in 2023. That’s more than the populations of Allegany, Caroline, Dorchester, Garrett, Kent, Queen Anne’s, Somerset, Talbot, and Worcester counties combined.