In 1997, a third of state prisoners and about one in five federal prisoners said they had committed the crimes that led to incarceration while under the influence of drugs. Injection-drug users place themselves at great risk. A University of Pennsylvania study of Philadelphia injection-drug users found that four times as many addicts died from overdose, homicide, heart disease, renal failure and liver disease as did from causes associated with HIV disease. Clearly, drugs themselves harm users. A significant percentage of all current drug users are addicted to illegal substances.
Addiction is a brain disease that changes a person's neurochemistry.
For 4 million chronically addicted people, drug use is not a choice and hence has little to do with personal liberty. Removing the threat of criminal sanctions would eliminate the possibility of forced treatment and condemn countless addicts to miserable lives. Aside from the fact that this is not a war, much progress has been made. Current drug policies are reducing drug use and its consequences. Drug use in this country has declined by half since 1979.