The debate over drug legalization

Abstract

The debate over drug legalization appears frequently in the media as apotential solution to issues such as drug trafficking and other problemsrelated to drug use. In Spain, private consumption or even the production of small quantities of certain plants, whose active ingredients are considered illegal drugs, if clearly for own consumption are not practices criminalized by any law. In addition, a drug addict is considered a person who is ill. Although it has not always been like that even in the countries that have called for this debate, where at times the law prosecutes consumers.The population of our country, according to the views expressed in theopinion polls, prefer to increase preventive measures, foster the treatmentfreely assumed by drug addicts and make stricter the repression on drugtrafficking.Therefore, when speaking of “legalization” we should be scrupulous withthe semantics; legalize and decriminalize are not the same, it is not thesame decriminalize consumption than decriminalize trafficking, neitheris the same decriminalize private consumption than public consumption.Decriminalize private consumption is a fact in our country. Beyond this,we advocate for the strict need to analyze from a scientific perspective thehypothetical benefits that would result from drug legalization. Certainly,from the public health perspective, they are hard to find. We believe thatthe same logic applied to tobacco, increasing the restrictions on its use, isthe path to follow with any addictive substance.