There is broad consensus in the medical and scientific community that substance abuse should be treated as a medical and public health problem, not a crime. The authors recommend a sensible pivot from failed policies of drug prohibition toward a realistic approach to drug use.
This policy brief is part of a series of recommendations from the Baker Institute for the incoming president’s administration.
Dec. 5, 2016, 1:25 p.m.
Viridiana Edwards is a nonresident scholar for the Drug Policy Program and a U.S. Army veteran whose research includes medical cannabis use among military veterans. Edwards serves on a number of boards, including the Foundation for an Informed Texas, Texas …
Gary J. Hale is the nonresident fellow in drug policy and Mexico studies at the Baker Institute. From 2000 to 2010, he held the position of chief of intelligence in the Houston Field Division of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), …
