This concerned foster mom is tackling the war on drugs
Christina Dent is a conservative Christian advocating to end the war on drugs. She believes that the war on drugs, which has been ongoing for over half a century now, is at best ineffective — and at worst, deeply harmful. Her main gripe? Drug addiction is a health crisis, not a criminal one.
Her perspective formed when she began fostering a baby from a family impacted by maternal drug use. She discusses three categories of harm caused by the war on drugs: substances become more dangerous due to prohibition, criminalizing markets increases crime and violence, and a punitive approach harms individuals, disconnecting them from support systems. The U.S. has spent a trillion dollars imprisoning millions of Americans on drug charges,which Christina says is continually leading to worse outcomes.
Christina points to Portugal’s success in treating drug use as a health issue, reducing addiction and crime. She emphasizes the need for open dialogue, understanding root causes, and shifting away from punitive measures to better solutions. In her own family, Christina has seen the devastating impact of the war on drugs, but also the positivity that can come from a radically different approach. Now, it’s time to share that radically different approach with the rest of America — and we all stand to benefit.
