Thread by @SanhoTree

@TheJusticeDept We need to have an honest conversation about how we got here. It didn’t have to be this way. Drug warriors fought against harm reduction for DECADES in favor of iron fist approaches which set up all the wrong incentive structures. Prohibition = price support for drug traffickers.

https://twitter.com/sanhotree/status/1636372855876382723

@TheJusticeDept Since Nixon declared the War on Drugs in 1971, drug warriors have chosen paths that closed off future options & channeled us into next year’s crisis. They have tactics without strategy & short-term goals without an endgame. They forced a rapid Darwinian evolution of traffickers.

https://twitter.com/sanhotree/status/978309877998215168

@TheJusticeDept What might an alternative approach looked like? We don’t need a time machine or engage in counterfactual debate. It actually happened in Mexico until Washington crushed the experiment.

https://twitter.com/sanhotree/status/1308866117029507075

@TheJusticeDept It’s too late to unpee in the pool, however. So what should we do if we truly care about saving lives? Follow Canada’s leadership in #SafeSupply. Let doctors prescribe legal opiates so users don’t have to play fentanyl roulette on the street. Not one more person needs to die.

https://twitter.com/sanhotree/status/1167864071095382016

@TheJusticeDept Another urgent response needed from DOJ is that you need to clarify that you will not prosecute or harass Overdose Prevention Centers. Hundreds have existed around the world for decades and nobody has *ever* died of an overdose in such a facility. THEY SAVE LIVES. PERIOD!

https://twitter.com/dcist/status/1645932247642673154

@TheJusticeDept Finally, here’s a thread on some reflections on the drug war that I wrote on the 50th anniversary of Nixon’s declaration of war. Spoiler alert: Don’t declare war on an enemy incapable of organized surrender. That’s a recipe for a forever war.

https://twitter.com/sanhotree/status/1405564635961516036