The Economist - USA (2021-02-13)

The EconomistFebruary 13th 2021 United States 27

I

n autocracies, putting up mausoleums

for ex-presidents is common. China,

North Korea, Russia and Vietnam all en-

courage visitors to gawp at embalmed bo-

dies and tour museums that glorify their

dear, dead leaders. In most democracies

that sort of thing is frowned on, making

America’s passion for hagiographical pres-

idential museums unusual. Every occu-

pant of the White House since Herbert

Hoover has put up a monument to himself.

They are built with private cash, but their

upkeep eventually falls to the federal gov-

ernment, which spends about $100m year-

ly on 13 sites. The 14th is coming. Last week

federal permission was granted for the

Obama Presidential Centre, a $500m com-

plex on Chicago’s South Side. Work starts

this summer. It should open in 2025.

Anthony Clark, author of a book on

them, notes that over 2m visitors visit pres-

idential libraries in a normal year. After

Dwight Eisenhower died, in 1969, 630,000

people made a pilgrimage to his library in

Abilene, Kansas. Now it typically fails to

draw one-third as many. Fewer still pay

homage to Herbert Hoover in rural Iowa. In

2018 George H.W. Bush was buried at his li-

brary, in Texas, one of seven presidents in-

terred at their museum grounds.

Mr Clark sees such spots as “partisan

shrines”. Their common message—that a

few big men, imperial presidents, steer

America’s fortunes—looks dated. He dis-

likes, too, how ex-presidents in their “last

campaign” try skewing how history re-

members them. Richard Nixon’s library

long neglected mention of Watergate, for

example. Ronald Reagan’s lets visitors see

Air Force One or a reconstructed pub

brought from Ballyporeen, Ireland, where

Ronnie and Nancy once had a drink. It

barely addresses the Iran-Contra scandal.

Jodi Kanter, who has written a book on

presidential museums as theatre, is a big-

ger fan. They offer “romance about individ-

ual achievement” she says. Scattered na-

tionwide, they are more accessible than

museums in Washington. She expects Do-

nald Trump to announce his own, as he

won’t “resist having a monument to him-

self”. But battles for land and donors could

delay it; Nixon took 16 years to compete his.

Unusually, the Obama one in Chicago

won’t house his official records (which will

be digitised instead). Limited space will go

to exhibits on the Obamas’ time in the

White House. Mike Strautmanis, who is

workingontheproject,saysinsteadit isto

be“atool”forMrObama’spost-presiden-

tialwork.Thecentrewillhostyoungactiv-

istsfromAmericaandoverseas,training

theminhowtoachievesocialchange.It

willincludea branchoftheChicagolibrary

and let locals grow vegetables in its

grounds.MrObama “isstill arelatively

youngman”eagertoturnideastoaction,

saysMrStrautmanis.Andgrowingthings

beatsembalmingthem. 7

CHICAGO

Barack Obama’s post-presidential

project gets a green light

Presidential libraries

The shrining

H.W.fora day

G

etting caughtwith a small amount of

drugs in Oregon is now like getting a

traffic ticket. At the beginning of this

month, it became the first state to decrimi-

nalise possession of even hard drugs for

personal use. Rather than face criminal

charges, those in possession of small

amounts of drugs (defined as having less

than 1 gram of heroin or mdma, 2 grams of

methamphetamine or cocaine, 12 grams of

psilocybin, 40 units of methadone or lsd,

or 40 pills of oxycodone) will face a $100

fine or a health assessment that could lead

to rehabilitation rather than jail time. Drug

treatment will be funded by state tax rev-

enue from legal marijuana sales, which

reached $133m in 2020.

The Oregon Criminal Justice Commis-

sion expects the new law to decrease the

load on the criminal-justice system. Going

by 2019 estimates, they expect arrests for

possession of controlled substances to

drop from 6,700 to 615 in an average year, a

91% reduction. They also estimate that

1,800 fewer Oregonians will be convicted of

felony possession, and 1,900 fewer of mis-

demeanour possession. “That impact is go-

ing to be huge,” says Bridget Budbill of the

Office of Public Defence Services. “It’s an

opportunity for overburdened public de-

fence systems to see a modest reduction in

cases...so that these public defenders can

focus their attention on [...] more serious

matters.” This will have a particular impact

on racial minorities, who get dispropor-

tionately arrested for possession and then

caught-up in the criminal-justice system,

says Ms Budbill.

A handful of American cities have al-

ready decriminalised drugs harder than

marijuana. More states could follow Ore-

gon. The cities focus on psychedelics, psy-

choactive substances such as psilocybin

(also known as “magic mushrooms”) and

lsd. Ann Arbor, Denver, Oakland, and Som-

erville, Massachusetts, have all decrimi-

nalised psychedelics. The District of Co-

lumbia also passed a referendum to do so

in November, though the city’s mayor, Mu-

riel Bowser, has publicly opposed it.

America is inching towards the exam-

ple of Portugal, which in 2001 became the

first country to decriminalise drug con-

sumption for personal use (while continu-

ing criminal prosecution for other drug of-

fences, such as trafficking). The country

saw a reduction in drug-induced deaths

and reduced rates of hivinfection. But,

says João Castel-Branco Goulão, Portugal’s

National Co-ordinator for Drugs and Drug

Addiction, decriminalisation must be

paired with other policies or else it will fail.

“Decriminalising without doing anything

else does not lead to any improvement of

the situation,” says Dr Goulão.

He warns policymakers that any plan to

decriminalise drugs must consider four

factors: accessible treatment, prevention,

harm reduction and reintegration. In Por-

tugal, first-time offenders go before a panel

at the Ministry of Health and receive a

warning. Subsequent violations within

five years of the first offence incur either a

fine or other administrative sanction, such

as community service. Punishment is indi-

vidualised. Someone struggling with drug

dependency may receive therapy, while a

recreational user battling with depression

may receive mental-health care.

Nora Volkow, director of America’s Na-

tional Institute of Drug Abuse at the Na-

tional Institutes of Health, encourages de-

criminalisation alongside support policies

and prevention programmes to protect

children and adolescents from addiction.

“We need to be very aware of...how the de-

criminalisation is going to affect accessi-

bility,” she warns, “...because we know that

the more accessible a drug is, the greater

the likelihood someone will pick it up.” 7

Oregon decriminalises drugs for

personal use

Oregon’s drugs policy

Trail blazers