Danielle Allen, a Harvard professor and gubernatorial candidate, said that if elected, she would push to decriminalize all controlled substances by eliminating state criminal penalties for small amounts of heroin, cocaine, and other drugs.
Allen said the proposal, which she released Wednesday, would keep criminal charges in place for larger amounts of drugs that would trigger distribution or trafficking charges. But she would seek to reclassify nonviolent personal-use possession as a civil violation subject to a fine, arguing Massachusetts’ current approach to policing drugs is failing to stem its still-raging opioid epidemic.
