There are several countries that basically did this and no, the stats don’t change. In fact, de-criminalizing those drugs has lead to a decrease in usage and associated deaths in all cases I’m aware of.
Decriminalization isn’t anywhere near the same as legalization. One means you wont go to jail when you get caught with it despite it being illegal to sell, while the other means it’s legal to possess, buy, and sell.
I’m also curious about the rates of users to deaths and not just total number of deaths as most adults use alcohol at some point while only a tiny percent use stuff like meth or heroin.
Its an interesting abstract but unfortunately doesn’t include the data or breakdown of methodology without having Lancet access.
Members of the Independent Scientific Committee on Drugs, including two invited specialists, met in a 1-day interactive workshop to score 20 drugs on 16 criteria: nine related to the harms that a drug produces in the individual and seven to the harms to others. Drugs were scored out of 100 points, and the criteria were weighted to indicate their relative importance.
There are several countries that basically did this and no, the stats don’t change. In fact, de-criminalizing those drugs has lead to a decrease in usage and associated deaths in all cases I’m aware of.
Decriminalization isn’t anywhere near the same as legalization. One means you wont go to jail when you get caught with it despite it being illegal to sell, while the other means it’s legal to possess, buy, and sell.
I’m also curious about the rates of users to deaths and not just total number of deaths as most adults use alcohol at some point while only a tiny percent use stuff like meth or heroin.
Studies in the UK show that there are three classes of ‘hard’ drugs - alcohol, amphetamines, and opioids.
All three roughly follow the ‘10% rule’: 10% of people who try these drugs become addicted, and 10% of addicts die from their addiction.
Meth, heroin, and alcohol each kill about 1% of the people who try them.
Drug harms in the UK: a multicriteria decision analysis
Its an interesting abstract but unfortunately doesn’t include the data or breakdown of methodology without having Lancet access.
Here’s a better link where you can download the full PDF Drug harms in the UK: A multi-criterion decision analysis