President Biden has repeated his policy goal of decriminalizing illegal drugs and diverting funds no longer needed for law enforcement for rehabilitation. Speaking at a town hall meeting, Biden said that “nobody should be imprisoned for using an illegal drug,” reinforcing statements made during the campaign that the decades-long “war on drugs” had essentially failed to stop the drug crisis and the ongoing high level of drug overdose fatalities. Biden has promised a massive $125 billion program over the next decade to combat the opioid epidemic, with a focus on expanding treatment, education and prevention.
Meanwhile, life expectancy in the U.S. dropped by one full year during the first half of 2020, due largely to the COVID-19 pandemic but also because of the surge in overdose deaths to more than 83,000 in the 12-month period ending last June—a 20 percent increase over the previous year and the highest number of fatal overdoses every recorded in the country in a single year.
And finally, Governor Tom Wolf of Pennsylvania is all-in for legalizing marijuana this year, claiming that profits from pot sales would help the state recover from the COVID-related economic downturn. He said the money would go to help historically disadvantaged businesses owned by people of color and communities harmed by marijuana criminalization, but he did not forecast how much money would be generated and when the state might get it. Legalization in Pennsylvania would create a sold block of Northeast states with easier access to pot, as New York and Connecticut are also considering cannabis reform and New Jersey will soon implement its legalization bill.