“Ballot Measure 110, the Drug Addiction and Recovery Act, acknowledges that addiction is, first and foremost, a challenge to public health, not public safety, and establishes the mechanisms to meet that challenge. It decriminalizes simple possession of all hitherto prohibited drugs and dedicates most of the proceeds from the state marijuana tax to expand greatly programs of prevention, treatment and rehabilitation.

Measure 110 doesn’t declare that society has no interest in what its members inhale, ingest and inject. Users of opioids, cocaine, methamphetamines etc. can still be fined $100 per offense. But the law won’t jail them or burden them with a criminal record, which abets, not curtails, their self-destructive behavior. And it will waive their fines if they enter rehab.