Legalization will increase drug use. Drug activists often urge congressional members to adopt drug policies similar to that of some European nations, most commonly they use the Netherlands as an example to follow for marijuana policies. What they don’t tell you is that marijuana use in the Netherlands more than doubled in the decade following the establishment of the country’s famous marijuana coffeehouses. Similarly, between 1975 and 1991 when the state of Alaska decriminalized the personal possession of up to four ounces of marijuana, use of the drug went up significantly among Alaskan youth.

Legalization will, no doubt, increase crime-related and other societal costs. Approximately 75% of children in foster care are placed there because of parental substance abuse. Sexual assault is frequently facilitated by substance use – some experts put the number at over 60%. The U.S. Department of Justice found that 61% of domestic violence offenders also have substance abuse problems.

Would drugs be legalized for use by adults only, and if so, how can we ensure children don’t get them? If marijuana, for example, were legalized, it would be marketed like tobacco. Perception of harm would decrease with everyday ad placements undermining years of drug education and prevention work.

Legalization activists claim that eliminating penalties for drug possession will end black market sales. On the contrary, black markets most likely will thrive because they will sell for less and prey on those who are not of age.

Proponents of legalization say that nonviolent pot smokers are “suffering” at the hands of our criminal justice system and that nearly one-third of all federal drug defendants in 2001 are charged with marijuana possession. What they fail to point out is, according to the United States Sentencing Commission’s 2001 Sourcebook of Federal Sentencing Statistics, of all the drug defendants sentenced in federal court for marijuana crimes, the vast majority were convicted for trafficking. Only 2.3 percent (186 people) received sentences for simple possession, and of the 174 for whom sentencing information is known, only 63 actually served time behind bars! Even more eye-opening is that, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the median amount of marijuana involved in the conviction of marijuana–only possessions was 115 pounds; not exactly the peaceful pot smokers portrayed by the pro-drug advocates.

Eliminating penalties for drug possession, rather than moving them through the court system, forfeits an extremely important opportunity for intervention that can leverage them into treatment. Research indicates that drug courts and diversion programs can reduce recidivism and promote other positive outcomes, especially for the most economically disadvantaged who cannot afford treatment programs.

The scientific evidence does not support the efficacy of NEPs. Four different studies of 25 cities with NEPs published in 2004 reported the following:

• 70% of all intravenous drug users continue to share needles,
• Unprotected sex, rather than     needles, is a major cause of the spread of blood borne diseases
• Hepatitis C reached epidemic levels in some cities studied,
• The number of new young addicts increased, and
• Drug dealing and crime increased.

Studies have shown that treatment for addiction reduces drug abuse and the sharing of injecting drug paraphernalia, not abandoning addicts to the devastation of their disease by supplying them with the tools they need to lock themselves in the prison of addiction. NEPs rarely, if ever, refer addicts to treatment and/or transition them into a treatment program. Simply put, needle exchange programs enable the addicted to continue down the destructive and deadly path of drug dependence.

Needle giveaway programs distribute millions of needles every year with little or no accountability for the needles once they have been distributed. The idea of dirty needles being haphazardly discarded in public places raises legitimate concern to affected communities. A 2001 survey conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showed that in 1998 over 19,397,527 needles were handed out in the U.S., and at best 62% were exchanged, meaning that 7-8 million needles were unaccounted for.

Needle exchange programs send a confusing message to our youth. Telling them not to use drugs but handing out needles reduces the perception of harm and undermines prevention and treatment efforts. Children need a clear message; giving out needles to illegal drug users sends the wrong message to the youth of our nation.

Prescription drug monitoring programs (PDMPs) are being used to deter and identify illegal activity such as prescription forgery, indiscriminate prescribing and "doctor shopping." Most programs provide patient-specific drug information upon request of the patient’s physician or pharmacist. Some state programs proactively notify physicians when their patients are seeing multiple prescribers for the same class of drugs. These programs assist healthcare professionals in managing patient care and have been extremely successful in thwarting drug diversion in a number of states.

The National Survey on Drug Use and Health reports that in 2000, 3.8 million people aged 12 and older reported the current nonmedical use of a prescription drug.  In 2006, that figure increased more than 84 percent to seven million Americans, with the misuse of pain relievers representing three quarters of the overall problem.  The same report also found that prescription drug abuse among young adults aged 18-25 increased 20 percent from 2002 to 2006, driven by the non-medical use of prescription pain relievers.

The U.S. Department of Justice Office of Justice Programs contracted with Simeone Associates, Inc. to evaluate PDMPs’ impact on the supply and abuse of controlled substances. At the time of the study, 20 states had implemented systems to monitor the prescription and sale of drugs identified as controlled substances by the DEA. The results of the study indicate that the per capita supply of prescription pain relievers and stimulants increased substantially over the 1993 to 2003 period and that this growth was much more pronounced in states that did not have PDMPs than in states that did. 

Prescription drug fraud hurts the nation in loss of lives, increased crime, addiction, increased health care costs, medical expenses and Medicaid fraud, a price which all Americans ultimately pay.

File: 

Official State Prescription Program Model Legislation _2_.pdf