The War on Drugs, decriminalization and legalization
Explains the 'War on Drugs' and its results, and the difference between decriminalization (no criminal penalty for possession) and legalization (regulated legal production and sale).
Where this fitsConnects to 3 · Unlocks 1
- Connects to
- The Controlled Substances Act: schedules I–V and the Analogue Act — Schedules are the legal machinery of drug prohibition.
- The course lens: biopsychosocial, and no 'chemical imbalance' — Social context and law shape drug effects and harms.
- Treating addiction: substitution, antagonists, glutamate, vaccines — and the model's limits — Treatment-first approaches follow from seeing addiction as a health problem.
- Unlocks
- Substance use disorder: dependence is not addiction — Policy shapes who gets treatment and who gets punished for the same disorder.
Orient
Currently, schedule I drugs are criminalized, but there are two ways of changing this. Decriminalization usually works the following way: possession is not a crime, but distribution is. Legalization is full legalization, with or without regulations. Important point – you can decriminalize without legalizing.
Course terms
Your professor's wording, word for word from the slides. Learn the term and this definition — the explanation underneath is only there to help it make sense.
- Decriminalization
“possession is not a crime, but distribution is”Slides 07, p. 38
You can't legally buy the drug, but possessing it is not a crime (or only an infraction). Aim: go after traffickers and send users to treatment, not prison.
- Legalization
“Full legalization, with or without regulations”Slides 07, p. 38
You can legally buy and sell the drug, and the government can tax sales: alcohol and tobacco (age rules), caffeine (unregulated), cannabis in many states.
- Key point
“you can decriminalize without legalizing.”Slides 07, p. 38
Decriminalization changes how users are treated; legalization changes whether the drug can be legally sold.
From your course: Course slides 07, pp. 32–42 · Midterm study guide: Clinical Trials and Policy · Course slides 01 (history and context)
Tip: the ← and → keys move through the lesson.
Full lesson: History and reasoning about drug effects