Hey, did you hear Hawaii's State Legislature just voted to study whether or not they should decriminalize all illegal drugs? Not "legalize," mind you. Hawaii's not looking to kick-start the medicinal crack industry. Decriminalization means no one gets jail time for simple possession of a substance. If Hawaii ultimately votes to decriminalize, they'll join Spain and Portugal in a grand experiment to answer that age-old question: Is throwing people in prison for drug use worse than just letting them take whatever they want?

All the current data points to "Sweet future-ghost of Keith Richards, yes." In Spain, where drug consumption is legal, the use of marijuana and cocaine (Spanish people's two favorite drugs) has fallen from their high points in 2009. Portugal decriminalized all drug use 14 years ago. Their rate of overdose deaths is currently at three per million, compared to 147 per million in the United States. Drug users in America are 49 times more likely to die than their stoned counterparts in Portugal.



Tragically, our heroin isn't 49 times as good.

Continue Reading Below Advertisement

The case for decriminalization here is incredibly strong, but there's one reason it'll probably never happen: