Police Chief Says Criminalizing Drugs Causes Most Deaths

THE LAW THAT KILLS EVERY DAY –

Oct. 23, 2021 – “The vast majority of those deaths would have been entirely preventable,” he said, adding: “In 21 years of police service I have slowly, perhaps too slowly, come to the conclusion that framing this crisis as a criminal justice problem has not simply been unhelpful, but counterproductive. He said major investment in drug support services was needed, as well as a national roll-out of the heroin-assisted treatment programme which has been piloted in Middlesbrough.

The scheme provides supervised injections to high-risk addicts in a bid to stop them committing crime to fund their drug use.

Mr Lewis said: “Most of us have allowed the message on drugs being bad (which they clearly are) to be conflated with addicts themselves being bad simply for using drugs.

“Some of the most odious and evil acts I’ve encountered in my police service have been perpetrated by drug addicts; but this is not universally true.

“Many have made bad choices in their lives – but by helping people like [them], we help ourselves.”