Advantages And Disadvantages Of Decriminalization

The United States should decriminalize drugs because it would keep people out of jail and stop overcrowding of jails, there are people with worst crimes that should be in jail. It will also stop wasting the taxpayers money, and it could increase the economy, also some states have already legalized drugs and the banning of drugs isn’t effective.

When it comes to dealing with marijuana and deciding between legalization, decriminalization, or leaving it how it is now the best option would be legalization. Decriminalization of marijuana would still not make it legal, but it would lessen the criminal penalty. Therefore, some states treat possessing a small amount of marijuana like a minor traffic violation. Whereas legalization would make marijuana legal like states such as Colorado and Washington have already done. But why is this the better option?

The meaning of the term ‘decriminalization’ according to the context of the readings is when offenders caught with the possession of a controlled substance, which in this case is marijuana would instead be given a lesser punishment rather than jail time. The government has suggested that officers instead of arresting the offender, ticket them instead. This would save a lot of tax payer money, and generate some also.

We should decriminalize drugs in the U.S. instead of legalizing them. Decriminalization refers to the lessening of criminal penalties of certain acts. According to De Marneffe, “… the legalization of drugs … [is] the removal of criminal penalties for the manufacture, sale, and possession of large quantities of recretational drugs, such as marijuana, cocaine, heroin, and methamphetamine” (346).

Within our society laws are created to limit and deter individuals from harming others or themselves. However, crimes such as recreational drug use and prostitution do not harm individuals but in the eyes of the law they are looked down upon due to consequences associated with drug use and promiscuous sex. Additionally, individuals arrested for marijuana usage and even prostitution make up a fair amount of the prison population. As a result of this, there have been several protests calling for the decriminalization and or legalization of these crimes. Though it has been a long battle calling for decriminalization, some countries or even states in the U.S. have worked on fully decriminalizing marijuana and prostitution for important reasons

“Each year, hundreds of thousands or people are around the world who die from preventable drug-related disease and violence. Millions of users are arrested and thrown in jail. Globally, communities are blighted by drug-related crime. Citizens see huge amounts of their taxes spent on harsh policies that are not working.” (annan). Many people use marijuana, illegal and legally. Marijuana use should not be decriminalized because in most states it’s already legal, such as, Columbia, Alaska and Washington. It’s going to decrease the funds used to find, arrest, and house marijuana users.

Decriminalization policies towards cannabis is starting to show up throughout the country, challenging the Controlled Substance Act. This act is a statute that gives the federal government ability to arrest when a manufacture, importation, possession, and use and distribution are founded for the federal arrest. This also states that the federal court’s medical provisions for cannabis are irrelevant in a federal prosecution case (Cannabis). Decriminalization is the lesser penalties for the crime. Most states that are decriminalizing cannabis have drug education, treatment, and civil fines. This is all in place of incarceration or criminal charges for the scant amount of cannabis (Galvin).

Drug decriminalization by definition, is the decreasing of criminal penalties in relation to acts involving drugs. The punishments to these acts is handing out a fine or making a personal decision to seek help in rehab. After years of high usages of drugs and their related deaths, in 2001, Portugal made a high risk decision to decriminalize the usage of all drugs. Although they have unexpectedly seen great results, Portugal is currently facing financial issues concerning the treatments they offer. Drug decriminalization is an act to combat drugs, it works great on paper and in Portugal, so why can’t it work in the United States?

In the United States’ experience, decriminalization arguments are typically employed as a rhetorical and political tool by advocates attempting to pry open the door to full legalization. Both decriminalization and legalization of illicit drugs would increase their use, along with their associated health and social costs. Unless advocates of decriminalization, or of outright legalization can establish that more drug use is a net good for society, both arguments are

I do not think that drugs should be decriminalized because then individuals will sell, and take drugs even more. There needs to be control, and by decriminalizeing drugs the situation will only get worse. In some places such as San Francisco, marijuana has been decriminalized for medical use. A campaign director in Denver, CO tried to persuade voters to make marijuana legal by saying that it was safer than alcohol. In the Netherlands, marijuana is already legal and statistics show a significant increase in drug addiction, and crime also due to the legalization of drugs (Simon). It seems like from places that have legalized drugs , crime and addiction have become worse.

A citizen should be allowed to purchase and smoke marijuana legally, for example, because his or her private consumption in a private home does not affect anyone else's personal rights. Decriminalizing certain victimless crimes would reduce the prison population and take significant pressure off an overworked judicial system.

Alternative methods of sentencing are primarily aimed at rehabilitation, so that the offender can avoid further contact with the criminal justice system. This is an effective feature of the justice system as it allows an opportunity for the offender to show remorse and make amends and bring satisfaction upon the victims’ and society as it allows an opportunity for the victim to describe the impact of the offender’s actions on their lives. This is clearly evident in the article Circle sentencing ‘helping to keep our mob out of jail’ by Karina Marlow, which involves an alternative court for sentencing adult indigenous offenders, based on customary law and traditional forms of indigenous dispute resolution. The article affirms the effectiveness

Incarceration strives to isolate offenders from society but does not provide adequate therapy to change the mental states and behaviors of criminals. The recidivism rate, the rate of known and recorded relapse into criminal behavior after release from jail, proves that offenders need more than just isolation to change their behavior and eliminate their dangers to society. Communities need not only to provide help and pay attention to offenders with short sentences because of their earlier release than others. In California, an increase in parole grants in 2014 has resulted in 2,000 murderers, classified as the “highest Criminal History Category, VI,” returning to society with no therapy or assistance from reentry programs. 80% of offenders in the most serious criminal history category, the criminal group with the highest recidivism rate, relapsed and returned to prison within five years of release, and 60% of offenders returned to prison within three years of release (Prisoners and Prisoner Re-Entry, 2007; Sanchez, 2014; Sipes, 2017; St John, 2014). Overall, police officers arrest ex-offenders up to forty-five times more than they arrest members of the non-criminal population (Przybylski, 2012). Criminals need specialized psychological treatment to change their behaviors and make them safe to return to their communities. As recidivism becomes increasingly more problematic in today's society, criminal psychologists analyze the motives, incarceration experiences, and mental

Incarceration affects everyone. The US is known to have one of the highest incarceration rates. It's to a point where every single American has a family member in jail or prison. And based on the way our jail system works, the impacts it leaves on prisoners, loved ones, and society aren't positive. Jail is used as a punishment, rather than a way to help inmates better and prevent future crimes. They leave psychological impacts, social impacts, and economic impacts on all of us. Incarceration in the United States has various controversies, but it is discernable that it is unjust and unethical because of the negative impacts it leaves and must be addressed by more effective reform systems.

Currently drug abuse is the issue that has plagued almost all the societies in the world. This problem poses serious threat to the life of people both in developed and underdeveloped countries. There are different kinds of drugs such as heroin, cocaine, cannabis, hallucinogens, ecstasy, and methamphetamine and so on (McGeorge & Aitken, 1997). Young and age-old people largely use many of these drugs. People usually consider these drugs as a relief from their worries, but these drugs lead them towards addition and psychotic disorders that eventually destroy their health. Legislative authorities in almost every part of the world have been trying to save their generations from the abuse, but the use of these drugs never ended. However, these legislations help to minimize the numbers of drug users where their implementation is done properly (Hall et al., 2004). The aim of this research paper is to provide knowledge about the Cannabis Legalization in Australia and the people’s approach who favor or oppose this legalization. Cannabis drug use, impacts, cannabis legalization in Australia and its advantages and disadvantages will also