Legal markets could solve this growing problem. To take an example, let`s focus on cocaine. A legal market for coke may seem absurd, but the drug became widely used in the United States a century ago, as a remedy for baldness and better known as an early ingredient in Coca-Cola. Could a regulated cocaine market function 100 years later? And what could convince politicians to seriously consider this idea? „From a public health perspective, when people use cocaine, you want them to move away from stronger, riskier products,“ Rolles says. „I`m very interested in some of these milder cocaine products that lie between the coca leaf and the cocaine powder.“ „It`s worth remembering that unregulated cocaine is already widely used and used, but cocaine regulation will make it much safer,“ Julian Buchanan, a veteran of harm reduction and retired professor at Victoria University of Wellington, told Filter. „The question is not, `Should cocaine be legal,` but why on earth should we continue with drug prohibition given the evidence we have? The regime is a global disgrace that will go down in history as one of the greatest atrocities and human rights violations in living memory. Where are we in this historic period of change? At the same time, Bolivia launched its „Coca sí, Cocaína no“ program, which enshrined coca in the constitution but demonized cocaine in powder form. This makes sense because coca is historically deeply linked to Bolivian national identity, while cocaine powder is associated with „neoliberalism“ and capitalist exploitation, according to Paul Gootenberg of Stony Brook University. A market for cocaine powder should be much more strictly regulated than a market for milder products, Rolles suggests, and sellers should be required to highlight safer products and discuss harm reduction approaches with customers. It also suggests banning secondary sales and requiring authorized access to prevent people from buying in bulk.
„It will be limited,“ he says. „Something reasonable like two grams a week or whatever.“ With decades of trials and mounting scientific evidence, it is abundantly clear that prohibition only makes risky drug use. If we really want to reduce drug-related mortality and other health problems, it makes more sense to regulate legal drug markets than to encourage illicit drug markets. So-called „hard“ drugs such as cocaine and methamphetamine are no exception. Then, of course, you have powdered forms of salted cocaine that are usually blown up or snorted. The results are more immediate, with a stronger kick. Since cocaine salt is soluble in water, it can also be injected. Voters in New Jersey and Arizona have approved measures to legalize marijuana for adults 21 and older. In New Jersey, lawmakers must now pass another measure to establish the new marijuana market. Arizona`s measure also allows people convicted of certain marijuana-related crimes to request deletion of their records.
The passage of the measure marked a change in attitude after Arizona voters narrowly rejected a legal pot proposal in 2016. The Drug Initiative in Oregon will allow people caught with small amounts of hard drugs to avoid trial and possible jail time by paying a $100 fine and participating in an addiction treatment program. The treatment centers are funded by revenue from legalized marijuana, which was approved in Oregon a few years ago. That doesn`t stop Steve Rolles, senior policy analyst at the Transform Drug Policy Foundation, a British think tank. He hopes that nations will soon regulate and legalize the sale, possession and use of spinning tops. He does not say that these drugs do not pose risks, but he notes that prohibition does nothing to mitigate those risks and that we need a different approach. Rolles is the author of How To Regulated Cannabis: A Practical Guide, a book used in Canada and Uruguay to shape their marijuana legalization frameworks. Mexican authorities recently cited his work in a recreational marijuana bill.
It`s a big problem when a country`s top decision-makers consult you on how to model an industry with psychoactive substances – especially those that are still highly stigmatized. Finally, cocaine in free base form has a lower boiling point, so it can be vaporized and smoked, giving the drug a strong rush. A free, low-purity baking soda base is called „crack“ because of the noise it produces when heated. Freebase cocaine has a shorter duration, but the effect is more intense, resulting in more problematic patterns of use than prized cocaine or coca tea. He suggests cocaine gums, lozenges and energy drinks — even snus-like packages that are placed in the upper lip and simply replace tobacco with coca leaves. Regulating this and other „soft“ forms of the drug would harm the illicit cocaine trade, deprive gangs of their power, and protect people from adulterated drugs. Bolivia is the only other country where cocaine is truly legal, not just decriminalized as in Portugal. In 2008, the country significantly excluded the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and withdrew from the United Nations Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs. The country re-enrolled in 2013, but with one exception for coca.
Today, about 3 million people in Bolivia use coca leaves. Progressive drug policies seem to be taking root in the United States. Just ten years ago, recreational cannabis was not legally available anywhere, but now 10 states have introduced legalization, and many more are moving in that direction. Given the recent approval of esketamine by the FDA — MDMA and psilocybin psychotherapy not far behind — psychedelic drugs appear to be next, at least partially free of prohibition. For 3,000 years, Andean communities in South America have chewed coca leaves to combat altitude sickness. Buzz is about as sweet as coffee and may even have health benefits. The leaves are sometimes mixed with teas and other beverages, but the concentration of cocaine is so low that it is difficult to get high or become addicted. „There has been an alarming increase in deaths from stimulants. Out of about 70,000 deaths in the U.S. [in 2017], 10,000 to 15,000 of them are related to stimulants,“ Rolles says. „I think if it weren`t for the opioid crisis, people would have paid more attention to this fact, and they`re not.
Even in the UK, we have seen a rapid increase in deaths from cocaine and MDMA. Around the world, this is a growing problem that is not getting the attention it needs. „Unregulated cocaine is already widely used and used, but the regulation of cocaine will make it much safer. By the way, the United States is the only country that buys medical cocaine from Peru, which is (rarely) used for sinus surgery. (This is a prime example of why the Controlled Substances Act makes little sense: it refers to cocaine as Schedule II, which has an accepted medical use, while marijuana in the U.S. is Schedule I and has no accepted medical use.) Cocaine is a major vasoconstrictor — it narrows blood vessels — and, as a 2016 study noted, „there is no direct substitute for its unique useful properties.“ Rolles supports providing milder alternatives to salt or freebase cocaine — but says an additional ban on other forms wouldn`t do much to mitigate the harms of prohibition. Legal cocaine markets in other countries could expand to these Latin American models. But in addition to how it`s regulated and sold, we need to consider possible limits on grams per person — and what forms of cocaine might be allowed. The prohibition of cannabis and psychedelics is slowly dissolving in some places, but it`s harder for stimulants to sell it right now.
Even someone who believes that psilocybin mushrooms should be allowed in therapy, or that cannabis should be sold as freely as beer, may have a hard time accepting a legal market for cocaine. A national campaign to relax drug laws took an important step forward Tuesday as voters made Oregon the first state to decriminalize possession of small amounts of street drugs such as cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine. Meanwhile, five other states have legalized marijuana for adults. A handful of countries have already legalized, not just decriminalized, small amounts of cocaine. Colombia, currently the world`s largest exporter of cocaine, allows the possession of one gram but prohibits its sale. Mexico has a similar model, but only allows possession of half a gram. In Peru, it`s two grams, but in 1949, the government created ENACO, the state-owned national coca company, which grows coca for medicines such as teas. Louisiana voters passed a measure claiming there is no constitutional right to abortion — something that could come into play if the U.S.
Supreme Court overturns its Roe v. Wade, which legalized abortion nationwide. Oregon voters also approved a measure that made the state the first to legalize the therapeutic use of psychedelic mushrooms. The legalization of cocaine requires a major shift in the Overton window – the range of ideas acceptable to the general public. A 2016 poll showed that 76 percent of Americans were against decriminalizing cocaine, with only 16 percent in favor. „What prohibition does is align the market with the most dangerous products because they are the strongest and most profitable,“ Rolles says, summing up the so-called iron law of prohibition. „Now you will never get rid of everything. Some people will still want cocaine powder. They want this drunkenness, they want this feeling. But if you could eliminate 30, 40, 50% of cocaine powder users.
From a public health perspective, that is always a good thing. South Dakota on Tuesday became the first state where voters approved both recreational marijuana and medical marijuana through two separate initiatives in the same election.
