Decriminalization Alone Won’t Fix Addiction – Infrastructure Will: A Comparative Look at Portugal, the Netherlands, and the U.S.

• By: Shawna Logue, CHW, PS Mihwa Gassett, ST-LAC Elaine Edelman, PhD, LCSW, CASAC-Adv. Kansas State University McNair Scholars Program
• October 12th, 2026
• criminal justice, decriminalization, drug policy, Fall 2026 Issue, harm reduction, overdose deaths, substance use disorder
• 8    0

In Chasing the Scream: The Search for the Truth About Addiction, Johan Hari asks, "What if everything you think you know about addiction is wrong?" (Hari, 2015). Hari posits that addiction is driven by isolation more than chemicals. In a widely viewed TED Talk he states, "The opposite of addiction...