Lawson for Congress

As a physician, I am particularly appalled by our treating drug abuse as a criminal offense rather than an individual medical problem. A particularly egregious byproduct of federal drug prohibition is our inherently unjust way of prosecuting these "crimes" and administering sentences, as rates of drug abuse and incarceration provide ample evidence for institutionalized racism. I reject the idea of incarcerating potentially productive individuals for making choices that hurt only themselves.

In Congress, I will work to end federal drug prohibition and federally mandated drug sentences. These policies are unconstitutional, disproportionately punish the poor and disenfranchised, and empower an underground economy of dangerous criminals that further destabilize disadvantaged communities. Changing our destructive drug policies will create a more just society by reducing crime and violence, reducing rates of drug addiction, and reducing the expense and long-term economic damage of imprisonment.

We learned through experience that alcohol prohibition was an expensive and dangerous failure that empowered organized crime while not reducing alcohol consumption. Today, it is easier for children to obtain "illegal" drugs than regulated substances like alcohol and tobacco. Finally, common-sense state-level regulation of alcohol and tobacco has eliminated the underground economy trafficking those substances, along with its accompanying crime and violence. Read more here.