 Depenalization, decriminalization and legalization. These terms are often used in the debate on how to control the supply and use of drugs. There's no universal agreement on these terms, but it's helpful to explore the different ideas behind them if we're to better understand their meaning. Let's start by considering that there are different possible levels of offenses. They range from no offense, all the way to a criminal offense, which is usually punished. These levels of offenses may be separated into behaviors that are usually prohibited and behaviors that are usually permitted. The first term we'll look at is depenalization. This is where something that was a criminal offense that was usually punished is changed to where it remains a criminal offense, but now there's a mechanism deciding that it's usually no longer punished. The case may be closed or suspended, it may be considered minor, or it may be decided that it's not in the public interest to prosecute. Then we have the term decriminalization. This is usually used where the status of an offense is reclassified from criminal to non-criminal within a country's legal framework. It's still an offense, it's still prohibited behavior which will be stopped by the police and punished, but it's no longer considered criminal. A simple example of this status is a parking ticket. Bad parking is an offense which is prohibited and punished, but it may not be considered criminal. Both depenalization and decriminalization refer to changes in legal status and are often used to describe possible options for changing a country's response to offenses related to drug use. The third term often used for changes in drug laws is legalization. We apply this term to the supply of drugs and we use it to describe a move from a prohibited behavior whether criminal or not, to a permitted behavior. Legalized supply may not be an offense in defined circumstances. We call this regulation and in Europe that's the case for alcohol and tobacco where there are specific rules to regulate supply such as an age limit for buyers and a license for sellers. If there are no specific rules on limits to supply we're talking about a free market. This is, for example, the case for selling goods such as coffee although general rules for consumer products will still apply. The important thing about an act of legalization is that it crosses the line from prohibited to permitted behavior which depenalization and decriminalization do not do.