Insights · Tag
Public Health
Drug policy written as public health treats addiction as a medical and social condition — not a moral failing to be punished into submission.
-
Drug Legalization Series Part 25: Punishing Pain or Saving Lives — The Real Choice in Drug Policy Reform
Part 25 reframes drug policy as punishing pain or saving lives: public health, overdose prevention, treatment on demand, and risk-based regulation.
-
Drug Legalization Series Part 24: The Ethical Case for Regulation — What We Owe People We Know Will Use Drugs
Part 24 on drug legalization ethics: we owe regulation that cuts preventable death instead of outsourcing safety to a black market when use is inevitable.
-
Drug Legalization Series Part 23: What Failure Looks Like If We Don't Change: Projecting the Status Quo Forward
Part 23 models drug overdose death projections under today's laws, showing what failure may look like if we keep the status quo.
-
Drug Legalization Series Part 22: Public Buy-In Is Built, Not Waited For: How Public Opinion Actually Shifts on Uncomfortable Drug Policy
How leaders build public support for drug policy that feels uncomfortable first — and why public perception shapes what lawmakers pass and fund.
-
Drug Legalization Series Part 21: Drug Legalization Is Bipartisan: Political Reality, Not Political Fantasy
Part 21 explains why bipartisan drug policy reform is viable now and why regulated legalization is a public health and safety upgrade, not ideology.
-
Drug Legalization Series Part 20: Urgency Without Panic — Why This Can't Wait Another Decade
Part 20 explains why an overdose prevention strategy can't wait another decade, and lays out urgent, measurable steps that reduce death without panic.
-
Drug Legalization Series Part 19: This Is Already Being Administered — The Myth That Regulation Is Too Complex to Run
Part 19 argues regulation is already administered across health, safety, and controlled-substance systems — and how that capacity can scale responsibly.
-
Drug Legalization Series Part 18: Public Health, Not Moral Panic — Building a Public Health Drug Policy That Actually Reduces Harm
Part 18 makes the case for public health drug policy that replaces moral panic with overdose prevention, harm reduction, and treatment on demand.
-
Drug Legalization Series Part 17: Case Studies Without Cherry-Picking — What Worked, What Failed, and Why
Part 17 reviews drug decriminalization case studies across the U.S. and abroad to show what worked, what failed, and why — without cherry-picking.
-
Drug Legalization Series Part 16: How to Run a Drug Legalization Pilot Program Without Betting the Farm
Part 16: a drug legalization pilot framework — risk-based regulation, measured outcomes, diversion control, privacy, and results-based funding.
-
Drug Legalization Series Part 13: Mental Health, Housing, and Despair
Part 13 explores drug addiction and homelessness, mental illness, and housing-first recovery in the drug legalization and regulation series.
-
Drug Legalization Series Part 12: The Reentry Window We Keep Wasting
Prison release overdose risk peaks in days and weeks after release. Which programs actually cut overdose, recidivism, and instability.
-
Drug Legalization Series Part 11: Prevention That Isn’t Propaganda
Evidence-based drug prevention beats scare tactics — what reduces youth use, why fear-based education fails, and how prevention fits regulation.
-
Drug Legalization Series Part 8: Fear Is Not a Policy: The Known Failure vs the Imagined Risk
Part 8 explores fear-based drug policy, Oregon's Measure 110 results, and what effective drug policy would require in the legalization series.
-
Drug Legalization Series Part 7: Recovery Lockbox: Fund Addiction Treatment Without Raising Taxes
A recovery lockbox captures enforcement savings and regulated-market revenue to fund MOUD, housing, and reentry — using FY 2025 budget realities.