Don Berwick on Drugs

Rollout of medical marijuana was a management fiasco

All five candidates said they would prefer to wait and see how the medical marijuana experiment in Massachusetts and the new legalization laws in Washington and Colorado work before deciding on legalized marijuana.

Substance abuse treatment instead of incarceration

• Reducing the Size of the Prison Population: Ending the continual jamming of our country and state corrections facilities with inmates whose offenses do not truly warrant incarceration, and for whom alternative pathways of rehabilitation, effective probation, substance abuse treatment, and mental health care are more effective and appropriate. We also need to reevaluate and modernize sentencing and parole practices.
• Reducing Repeat Offense Rates: Identifying and using evidence-based, scientifically grounded programs to reduce recidivism by 50% in the next four years
• Restoring Judicial Discretion: Untying judges' hands through eliminating excessive use of mandatory sentencing, decriminalizing minor offenses, and permitting appropriate use of therapies for mental illness and substance abuse.