Decriminalize Drugs

Portugal's success would be the ideal model for Canada to base decriminalization of illicit drugs. Although Canada does not have as much of a drug epidemic that Portugal had before decriminalization, statistics show the country has rising rates of both heroin and meth use. Treating this evident problem with a different approach has been gathering heavy support over the years. Support behind this legal movement in Canada includes the Canadian Drug Policy Coalition and the Green Party of Canada. Not only were drugs decriminalized in Portugal, the entire system was reconstructed to aid those addicted. Both the reduce in law enforcement towards illicit drugs and the increase in funding towards treatment paid off greatly for Portugal. Overdose death went down by 72% while the spread of HIV went down by 94%. Canada has prioritized the war on drugs, although the method being followed does not prove effective. It might prove better to abandon this current war in favour for public health, following Portugal's lead in providing harm reduction treatment and treating the addiction as the public health crisis that it

In 2015, 1,488,707 people in the United States were arrested on drug charges. Nearly 84 percent of those arrest were for possession only. As one can imagine these arrest impact the American justice system greatly. Within America's prisons in 2010 more than half of all inmates were serving time based on drug related charges. The prisons within America are greatly overcrowded, and I believe that decriminalizing drug use could offer assistance in this situation.

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).

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.

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.

The issue of drug abuse is a sad reality in every community, and drug prohibition is present across the globe. Whether it is under the guise of protection of family values, or public safety, prohibition disrupts more than it maintains. Many people view drugs as a problem but they can also be viewed as a problem solver. This essay will address the socioeconomic issues with prohibition of hard drugs, and argue for their legalization.

Drugs should be legalized and/or decriminalized in the future in Washington State and the Unit-ed States. However, along with legalization should come counseling for drug abuse and should give the pros and cons to using drugs. Since smoking was legalized and more information has come out about smoking there is 50% less smokers and it is less of a public issue. And as far as the concern with there being more people using drugs and driving a car, yes we will have drivers using just as we have drivers drinking and driving. Also with legalization will come more control for the purity of drugs and users will be less like to become dependent because of this. One other issue is that more money needs to be spend on rehabilitation. Incarceration is

The Alcohol and other drug (AOD) field is dynamic and fluid and is constantly being shaped by a variety of forces (The Department of Health, 2004). Illicit drug use is a widespread issue around the world, posturing significant social and economic costs to the health care system, justice department and social welfare systems in both developing and developed countries (Damrongplasit, Hsiao, & Zhao, 2012). Criminal Justice and addictive drugs have been tangled in Australia and internationally for a century or more. Ever since the addictive and destructive properties were discover within certain drugs, officials have declared the production, distribution, sale and possession of drugs to be illegal (Sherman & Valenta, 2015).

According to the United States Federal Register, the total cost per inmate exceeds $25,000 every year(8) At the same time, it costs tremendous amount of money on the prohibition of drugs in the U.S, “The U.S. federal government spent over $15 billion dollars in 2010 on the War on Drugs, at a rate of about $500 per second. State and local governments spent at least another 25 billion dollars.” (8) I think the first method to fix drug epidemic problem is to decriminalize the use and possession of small amount of any kind of drugs, and at the same time, put more effort into creating “parallel harm reduction measures”. That means the government should send the people who use drugs or possess a small amount

The experience already demonstrated with two legal substances, alcohol and tobacco, shows legalization increases society’s acceptance, availability, and use. Alcohol and tobacco cause hundreds of thousands more deaths per year than all illegal drugs combined, in part because their use is more widespread.

Drugs like marijuana might end the costly war between legalizing drugs or not. There is estimation that legalizing the most influential drug marijuana or other drugs would save the government. Drugs would be such a good business for the government because approximately $41.3 billion in savings, $8.7 billion on legalizing marijuana, and $32.6 billion from the legalization of other drugs, like cocaine and heroin. Those savings of savings $25.7 billion would go to state and local governments. This bad because it’s going to make it easier for

current system of making drugs illegal is an issue. We have been fighting a war on drugs that never seems to end. If our country were to legalize drugs, there would be a decrease in crime rate, which would be terrific. American’s in today’s world believe that the majority of people who want illegal drugs would steal in order to obtain their drugs. Edmund Harrett, Deputy Chief and Executive Officer, of the Narcotics Division, New York City Police Department, New York, writes, “Many legalization supporters believe that property crime, particularly burglary, larceny from persons (purse snatchers, chain snatchers, and pickpockets), auto theft, theft from autos, and shoplifting would decrease by 40-50 percent if drugs were made legal. Similarly, many believe that the terms “drug-related murder” and “drive-by shooting” would become outdated once drugs were legalized. In their view, turf wars would be eliminated because there would no longer be a need to fight for one’s turf” (policechiefmagazine.com). This quote reveals that there is a serious drug problem in this country, and with legalization we would reduce crime, which is always a positive. By legalizing low-level drugs, we would have a lower crime rate for petty crimes, simply because those who used to steal to fund their habit, would have no reason to anymore. It would be terrific for our government if we had fewer petty criminals plugging up our court systems. Allowing them to focus more time on handling higher risk

There always seems to be debate on whether the decriminalization of drugs would be of great public interest. It is a very important and controversial issue that has many people wondering if legalizing drugs would be a right move or not. In the article, “Decriminalization Would Increase The Use and The Economic and Social Costs of Drugs” by David Mineta, Mineta argues about why drugs should not be decriminalized and how keeping illicit drugs illegal outweigh the possible negative consequences of legalizing these substances. Mineta himself writes that, “Our position is simple and evidence-based: both decriminalization and legalization of illicit drugs would increase their use, along with their associated health and social costs” (Americas Quarterly). According to Mineta the decriminalization of drugs will only allow more people to become addicted causing more health and social costs because seen as they will be more widely used. (Americas Quarterly)

It is widely recognize that drug addiction is a disease, one that we have to try to illuminate through prevention, interventions, and comprehensive treatment. The criminalization of drugs is not just their to punish people who use drugs. The criminalization is there to serve as a deterrent and a reason for those who use illegal drugs to see the use as a problem. Without the punishments threatened and fines collected, users would just continue using like there is no issue with their behavior. The argument is made that with decriminalization more people would get help for their addictions, but in reality police and justice system intervention accounts for one third of all referrals to rehabilitation/treatment

There has been many health advantages also that drugs help the community. If we decriminalize drugs, there is a chance for many people to come out and want to receive help when they realize they have a problem. In Portugal its been proven through all the years of decriminalization that there is a decrease number of addiction, overdose, and HIV/AIDS. This helped thousands of lives and sent them to health services or any other public