At the presidential debates, Joe Biden mentioned the need to stop incarcerating people for drug use and divert them into treatment instead. It was good to see a major U.S. presidential candidate acknowledge that prison is not an effective way to deal with drug abuse. Not only is incarceration ineffective; it can make underlying mental health issues worse. There is a better way, and that is to treat drug addiction, not as a criminal justice issue, but as a mental health issue. People who struggle with substance abuse need a treatment approach for their substance abuse, and for many, other underlying mental health challenges. They are unlikely to get such treatment in prison, and even if they do, prison is not a particularly therapeutic environment. Whether you are for or against him, Joe Biden got it right on drug abuse.
Punishment Is Not an Effective Strategy
Over 100 years ago Edward Thorndike proposed the Law of Effect that suggested two things.
- A behavior followed by reward is likely to be repeated
- A behavior followed by punishment is likely to be avoided
Psychological research has clearly shown the power of rewards, but punishment is not always effective. Whereas reward is associated with good feelings, punishment is associated with negative emotions, such as anxiety (for severe punishment) and anger. People will often respond to punishment by acting out and seeking to reassert their control. Often their behavior gets worse, not better. An individual who has a substance abuse problem will often rely on alcohol or drugs as a coping mechanism, and when they experience punishment, are likely to turn to those substances to deal with the negative feelings that punishment creates.
Another problem with punishment has to do with the psychological concepts of compliance versus acceptance. Compliance means that people do something only because they are forced. In a punitive workplace, an employee might follow the rules when the boss is watching, but when the boss is not around, the rules get broken. This is because the person is only complying out of fear of punishment, and when the boss is gone, so is the fear.
Acceptance means the person accepts that something is the right thing to do and that they and others benefit from it. In a rewarding workplace an employee might accept that the rule is fair and necessary, and so he or she follows the rule regardless of whether the boss is present or not. The employee is internally motivated and accepts responsibility for the behavior.
 Positive Treatment Approaches
An incarceration strategy that is based on punishment will in most cases only achieve compliance. This means that the person needs to be closely monitored to keep him or her from using drugs. You cannot count on a punitive prison sentence to have a long-lasting effect, as once the person returns to the community, he or she is free to resume drug use. This is one reason that recidivism rates for those arrested for drug use is so high.
A treatment approach that is based on positive approaches helps the person attain acceptance. The goal is to help the person maintain a goal of controlling their substance abuse, not out of fear of prison, but because it will lead to a better and healthier life. This internal motivation is far more effective because it does not rely on external factors, and it enables the person to deal positively with mental health problems. The idea of a positive approach that builds people up and provides psychological coping tools is reflected in the harm reduction movement that has as the goal minimizing the negative impact drugs have on individuals. Such a positive approach to dealing with substance abuse has a far greater chance of success than throwing drug users in prison.
Joe Biden Got It Right on Drug Abuse
A more effective national strategy to deal with drug abuse would shift resources from incarceration to treatment. In the U.S., for example, the funds being spent on the ineffective War on Drugs, would be better spent by expanding drug abuse and mental health treatment. Providing a wider range of readily available services would be more effective in helping people deal with drug abuse than what is currently being done. Countries like Portugal that have taken this approach serve as examples of how a more positive approach can have big benefits for individuals and society.
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