--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: We should decriminalize all drugs. The…" description: "\"We should decriminalize all drugs. The assumptions on which our drug policies are based are flawed.\" — Carl Hart" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0d7/carl-hart-8006_assumption_we-should-decriminalize-all-drugs-the-as_742887.jpg" --- # We should decriminalize all drugs. The assumptions on… ![“We should decriminalize all drugs. The assumptions on which our drug policies are based are flawed.” quote by Carl Hart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0d7/carl-hart-8006_assumption_we-should-decriminalize-all-drugs-the-as_742887.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0d7/carl-hart-8006_assumption_we-should-decriminalize-all-drugs-the-as_742887.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0d7/carl-hart-8006_assumption_we-should-decriminalize-all-drugs-the-as_742887.jpg) > “We should decriminalize all drugs. The assumptions on which our drug policies are based are flawed.” [Carl Hart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-hart/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Current drug laws are built on outdated, flawed premises and need evidence‑based revision. **In simple terms:** Drug policies are based on wrong assumptions. Key Takeaway Advocate for evidence‑based reform. Themes policy justice health Mood urgent critical Type activist policy When to use this quote - legislative debate - community health programs - education campaigns Key Concepts Drug criminalization public health Questions to Reflect On - What evidence would most persuade skeptics? - How can communities support reform? A Different Perspective Political resistance and entrenched interests hinder change. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Assumption](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/assumption/) [Assumptions Drug](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/assumptions-drug-5796869/) [Decriminalize](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/decriminalize-1844091/) [Decriminalize Drugs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/decriminalize-drugs-5796866/) [Drug](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/drug/) [Drug Policies](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/drug-policies-5796867/) [Drug policy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/drug-policy/) [Drugs Assumptions](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/drugs-assumptions-5796868/) [Flawed](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/flawed/) [Policy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/policy/) [Should](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/should/) [Wine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/wine/) ## Related quotes > [If we want to think about racism and how it might play out in drug policy, we have to think about the trial of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-hart/if-we-want-to-think-about-racism-and-how-it-might-play-out-in-drug/) [Carl Hart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-hart/) > [I would decriminalize marijuana, but you step out of your house high and you bother somebody else in any way, shape or form, I'm…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-o-reilly/i-would-decriminalize-marijuana-but-you-step-out-of-your-house-high/) [Bill O'Reilly](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-o-reilly/) > [The War on Drugs has been an utter failure. We need to rethink and decriminalize our marijuana laws.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/barack-obama/the-war-on-drugs-has-been-an-utter-failure-we-need-to-rethink-and/) [Barack Obama](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/barack-obama/) > [Latin America wants to decriminalize at least marijuana (maybe more or course;) the US wants to maintain it. An interesting story. There seems to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/noam-chomsky/latin-america-wants-to-decriminalize-at-least-marijuana-maybe-more-or/) [Noam Chomsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/noam-chomsky/) > [I'll give you a simple formula for straightening out the problems of the United States. First, you tax the churches. You take the tax…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frank-zappa/i-ll-give-you-a-simple-formula-for-straightening-out-the-problems-of/) [Frank Zappa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frank-zappa/) > [The prohibition of drugs causes crime. 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Lynch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-f-lynch/) > [If you can get conservatives to sit down for 20 minutes and listen to you on drug policy reform you might have a good…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rick-steves/if-you-can-get-conservatives-to-sit-down-for-20-minutes-and-listen-to/) [Rick Steves](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rick-steves/) > [ “With drug use related harms, explanatory models are often presented as predictive tools, even though they ‘are \[rarely if ever\] predictive of consequent behavior’… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-waterman/with-drug-use-related-harms-explanatory-models-are-often-presented-as/) [Daniel Waterman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-waterman/) > [“Crack had a social logic to it, a specific kind of reasoning that drew from a vast well of common experience for its symbolic…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dimitri-a-bogazianos/crack-had-a-social-logic-to-it-a-specific-kind-of-reasoning-that-drew/) [Dimitri A. Bogazianos](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dimitri-a-bogazianos/) ## More by Carl Hart > [If politicians did care about their constituents, they would work harder to seek out people like me. They don't.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-hart/if-politicians-did-care-about-their-constituents-they-would-work/) [Carl Hart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-hart/) > [“If Barack Obama had come up in a time when the drug war was being waged as intensely as it is now, we probably…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-hart/if-barack-obama-had-come-up-in-a-time-when-the-drug-war-was-being/) [Carl Hart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-hart/) > [All of my childhood, we were on welfare. My mom received Aid for Families with Dependent Children - welfare. 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The”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-hart/indeed-a-great-deal-of-pathological-drug-use-is-driven-by-unmet/) [Carl Hart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-hart/) > [I don't want to be on the bandwagon of dogging any president or anybody in positions where they have all these different constituencies.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-hart/i-don-t-want-to-be-on-the-bandwagon-of-dogging-any-president-or/) [Carl Hart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-hart/) > [Dopamine makes up less than one percent of the brain's neurotransmitters. It's a small portion. Dopamine is released when people are happy, angry, stressed.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-hart/dopamine-makes-up-less-than-one-percent-of-the-brain-s/) [Carl Hart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-hart/) > [Your decision to place your law enforcement resources in these communities is racism, but nobody has called people out on this. The law itself…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-hart/your-decision-to-place-your-law-enforcement-resources-in-these/) [Carl Hart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-hart/) > [When I got out of the military, I finished up my education at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington, and I had some…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-hart/when-i-got-out-of-the-military-i-finished-up-my-education-at-the/) [Carl Hart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-hart/) > [When we make decisions based on factors other than the available empirical evidence, we are less than objective, which means we are no longer…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-hart/when-we-make-decisions-based-on-factors-other-than-the-available/) [Carl Hart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-hart/) > [The way we have been thinking about brain science is that people show you pretty pictures, pretty images, and you think that that tells…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-hart/the-way-we-have-been-thinking-about-brain-science-is-that-people-show/) [Carl Hart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-hart/) [Explore all 84 Carl Hart quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-hart/) ## More Assumption quotes > [Next to the assumption of power was the responsibility of relinquishing it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/benjamin-disraeli/next-to-the-assumption-of-power-was-the-responsibility-of/) [Benjamin Disraeli](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/benjamin-disraeli/) > [It's difficult for people to come to the understanding that only a small minority of the people ever really get the word about life,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/earl-nightingale/it-s-difficult-for-people-to-come-to-the-understanding-that-only-a/) [Earl Nightingale](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/earl-nightingale/) > [Much like teaching art to young art students age 10 to 15 or so on, you have to break it down into bite-sized pieces,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kehinde-wiley/much-like-teaching-art-to-young-art-students-age-10-to-15-or-so-on/) [Kehinde Wiley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kehinde-wiley/) > [Neither novels or their readers benefit from any attempts to divine whether any facts hide inside a story. Such efforts attack the very idea…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-green/neither-novels-or-their-readers-benefit-from-any-attempts-to-divine/) [John Green](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-green/) > [The risk of developing carcinoma of the lung increases steadily as the amount smoked increases. 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And when she got into music, she had that same diligence in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laura-joplin/she-spent-hours-drawing-on-her-own-trying-to-perfect-her-craft-and/) [Laura Joplin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laura-joplin/) > [If they are, then the only ultimate truths are the particulars of concrete experience, and no postulate or general assumption is inherent in science…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chauncey-wright/if-they-are-then-the-only-ultimate-truths-are-the-particulars-of/) [Chauncey Wright](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chauncey-wright/) > [If he's - the inference is that somehow he thinks slavery is a - is a noble institution I would - I would strongly…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-w-bush/if-he-s-the-inference-is-that-somehow-he-thinks-slavery-is-a-is-a/) [George W. 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