6:00 pm America’s War on Drugs: Lessons Learned and Paths Forward

MCC Kolozsvár Center

For more than fifty years, the United States has waged its so-called “War on Drugs”, yet despite decades of enforcement and reform, the U.S. continues to face record overdose deaths, the spread of synthetic opioids such as fentanyl, and growing uncertainty about the right policy direction. In this moderated conversation, Paul J. Larkin, Senior Legal Research Fellow at the Heritage Foundation, will reflect on what America has learned — and what it has failed to learn — from half a century of drug policy. The discussion will address Oregon’s failed experiment with drug decriminalization, exploring why well-intentioned reforms can sometimes backfire, and examine the emerging threat of novel psychoactive substances (NPSs) such as nitazenes, which challenge both law enforcement and public health systems.