I appreciate your article on the difficulty of pursuing the war on Fentanyl/drugs. Until the demand for the drugs change we will be investing a huge amount of resources into a losing war. As a person in the drug treatment industry, I've long believed that we could decriminalize or legalize the majority of drugs and put the money into prevention and treatment, which includes funding health insurance, housing, education, and community development (jobs and businesses). The war on drugs is estimated to cost $1 trillion annually and the economic cost of substance use disorders is around $3.73 trillion annually totaling 4.73 trillion a year. This is more than 50% of the total amount spent on healthcare in the United States.
I appreciate your article on the difficulty of pursuing the war on Fentanyl/drugs. Until the demand for the drugs change we will be investing a huge amount of resources into a losing war. As a person in the drug treatment industry, I've long believed that we could decriminalize or legalize the majority of drugs and put the money into prevention and treatment, which includes funding health insurance, housing, education, and community development (jobs and businesses). The war on drugs is estimated to cost $1 trillion annually and the economic cost of substance use disorders is around $3.73 trillion annually totaling 4.73 trillion a year. This is more than 50% of the total amount spent on healthcare in the United States.