Nineteenth-century engraving. Wikimedia Commons / FS Church. Public domain.Today’s drug policies are finally under debate. Above all, they are in crisis.
Their stated objective was to establish a policy to control numerous hazardous substances, to prevent the addictive behaviours that these substances arouse in those who consume them. These substances were considered so dangerous that the best way to ensure that people stay away from them was to declare them illegal, making their purchase, possession or consumption a crime. This framework was accompanied by a moral conception of the substances themselves and of the ‘degeneration’ of populations associated with consumption, which justified their being persecuted and discriminated against. It created a radical policy of prevention.
