FROM CRIMINALIZATION TO REHABILITATION: Abandoning “The War on Drugs” THESIS EDIT | Page 25

in fear and hopelessness.
Today, we have evidence to show that what we are doing in the United States and in most
other parts of the world is inhumane. Not only is incarcerating people and labeling them as
criminals demoralizing and degrading, but it keeps people who are sick from getting the help and
treatment that they deserve and require. There are many types of pain in this world, but the silent
pain; the one that goes unnoticed and misunderstood; the one that isolates its victims in their pain
and confusion and makes them feel afraid, alone, and helpless - this is the worst kind of pain I
can imagine.
In 1971, Richard Nixon proclaimed drug abuse as “public enemy number one.”
Considering all the facts, one could easily conclude that “public enemy number one” is a
government unwilling to support and show compassion toward its sick population. When
receiving the Norman E. Zinberg Award for Achievement in the Field of Medicine, João
Augusto Castel-Branco Goulão stated clearly, “in Portugal we fight the illness, not the people
who suffer from it.” As current drug policy stands in most nations around the world, it is clear
that we still have a lot to learn from this statement.