Drugs, Crime And Public Health : The Political Economy Of Drug Policy

Law enforcement officers in Amsterdam say that if anything, the availability of marijuana in coffee shops keeps kids away from the dangerous drugs. Unlike drug dealers houses that may also cocaine or heroin, the “coffee shops” only have marijuana (John Stossel).

One might think that because the Netherlands leniency toward drugs and alcohol is high that it would result in higher crime rates and lower quality of health, but this assumption is false. Not only do statistics show that the Netherlands has a lower crime rate, but they also have have longer life expectations, happiness levels, and overall satisfaction with life compared to the United States (“Europe: Netherlands”; “North America: Untied States”).

For many years, a real push has been looming on the idea of legalizing now illegal drugs. This has become a hot debate throughout nations all over the world, from all walks of life. The dispute over the idea of decriminalizing illegal drugs is and will continue on as an ongoing conflict. In 2001, Drug decriminalization in all drugs, including cocaine and heroin, became a nationwide law in Portugal (Greenwald). Ethan Nadelman, essayist of “Think again: Drugs,” states his side of the story on the continuing criminalization of hard drugs, in which he stand to oppose. Whether it is for the good of human rights or not, decriminalizing drugs may be a good head start for a new beginning.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the legalization of marijuana in Colorado as well as the Netherlands drug policy. It has been found that even though Colorado has legalized marijuana, there are provisions that must be followed. The Netherlands however have not legalized marijuana, but they do feel that seeing possession of marijuana is not a crime, so therefore marijuana is tolerated. Colorado’s society does not agree with this legalization due to adolescent use, however the Colorado Amendment 64 protects this. The Netherlands is seen as too liberal, but they are only doing what is in the best interest of the users.

“Drug policy regarding the control of the traditional illicit substances (opiates, cocaine, cannabis) is currently moving through upbeat times in almost all Western countries. Prohibition on the basis of repressive law enforcement not only seems to fail on a large scale, but also to create vast additional costs, problems, and harm for drug consumers, who often find themselves in extreme social, economic, and health conditions” (Fischer 1995: 389).

The perception and policy on cannabis has been clouded by ill-informed attitudes uphold by a section of society and by the legacy of the various ‘war on drugs’. A handful of countries such as SPAIAN, Netherlands, North Korea, Colombia, Portugal, and parts of United States of America, have legalised medical and recreational use of cannabis. However cannabis is currently illegal in Australia, state of Victoria soon to legalise medicinal cannabis, but the handling and benefits of the current policies are inundated by the potential social opportunity cost if legalisation was to occur. The question is, should cannabis be legalised here in Australia? The following three main pillars of arguments will illustrate why cannabis should be legalised in Australia; decriminalisation, regulation and relative ramification.

The first dimension looks at drug availability and accessibility, without which Parker et al (2002) claim ‘normalisation’, could not take place. Over the past decade the availability of a variety of drugs has increased. With more and more drugs becoming available on the streets, prices are falling lower than ever. However purity levels are remaining the same, causing drug use to increase. Nowadays most youngsters obtain their drugs through social networks and friends of friends, who know the local dealers supplying on a small-scale level (Parker et al, 2002). Although this would therefore mean a huge population of young Britons have breached the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971, this type of dealing is extremely common and also very difficult for the police to detect, as it is concealed between small networks of users buying usually ‘recreational’ drugs for personal use (Parker et al. 2002). Such behaviours between these groups of friends have become so ‘normalised’ that they do not see what they are doing as breaking the law, most of the users will otherwise live a fairly law-abiding lifestyle where drugs have a purely recreational purpose (Parker et al, 2002).

As a major policy issue in the United States, the War on Drugs has been one of the most monumental failures on modern record. At a cost of billions of taxpayer dollars, thousands of lives lost and many thousands of others ruined by untreated addiction or incarceration, America's policy orientation concerning drug laws is due for reconsideration. Indeed, the very philosophical orientation of the War on Drugs and of the current drug policy in the United States has been one of prosecution and imprisonment rather than one of decriminalization, treatment and rehabilitation. As our medical and scientific communities characterize addiction as a disease, the United States government continues to characterize this disease as a crime. And in doing so, it has created an unnecessary criminal class in the United States. The research, supplemental political cartoons and proposed research will set out to prove that stiffer drug laws will only have the impact of criminalizing countless drug addicts who might otherwise benefit substantially from rehabilitation and other treatment-based strategies. With a specific focus on the prohibition of marijuana even for medical use, and using the Toulmin model for putting forth and completing the argument, the research will set out to demonstrate the irrational

Today’s world is changing at a rapid pace. Things never thought to be possible are becoming very real. One of the popular subjects of wanting change is the legalization of drugs. There has already been a small amount of change in the drug legalization process with marijuana now being legal in a few of the states. Vanessa Baird in her work “Legalize Drugs- all of them!” argues for the legalization and decriminalization of drugs. John P. Walters counters Baird’s argument for legalization in his piece “Don’t Legalize Drugs.” Both authors take an extended look into the harsh reality of the drug war and the small progress it has made since it began.

There was a great push for a non-judgmental approach that would ‘reduce physical, social and psychological risks to individuals who use drugs and to society as a whole’ (McCann & Temenos, 2015, p. 217). Never the less, this was a highly contested set of policy formulation across all levels of governance.

In the span of 2013-14 the reports of drugs in Australia increased. There were record high reporting’s of many types of illicit drugs at the border patrol. Furthermore, many other illicit drugs had their second highest reporting in history. Cannabis is the most common drug in Australia. The number of detections of cannabis in 2013-2014 decreased, but the total weight of detected cannabis at the border control increased dramatically and was the biggest cannabis find in the last decade (Australian Drug Commission 2014). In the draft for the National Drug Strategy 2016-2025 cannabis is mentioned as a priority drug as it is the most common used illegal drug (Intergovernmental Committee on Drugs 2015). As the recent news that the Australian government is planning to legalise growing of medical cannabis there a gap in the policy of how to regulate medical cannabis and cannabis used as an illicit drug (Yaxley 2015).

Drug legalization is an enduring question that presently faces our scholars. This issue embraces two positions: drugs should not be legalized and drugs should be legalized. These two positions contain an array of angles that supports each issue. This brief of the issues enables one to consider the strengths and weakness of each argument, become aware of the grounds of disagreement and agreement and ultimately form an opinion based upon the positions stated within the articles. In the article “Against the Legalization of Drugs”, by James Q. Wilson, the current status of drugs is supported. Wilson believes if a drug such as heroin were legalized there would be no financial or medical reason to avoid heroin usage;

According to Michelle Alexander, why and how has the “war on drugs” developed over the last 40 years? What are the main political and economic factors that led to the war on drugs, and what are the main political and economic factors that shaped it as it developed over the last four decades? Draw on material from the Foner textbook chapters 25 through 28 to supplement Alexander’s discussion of the political and economic context.

A multibillion dollar industry, with a consumer population of about 125 to 203 million people; the drug industry affects lives of all racial, ethnic, economic , social background, including participants in the drug industry, addicts, teenagers, parents, families, and officers of the law. Many people have encountered an experience with drugs and or drug education; the shared experience regarding the discussion of this topic or illegal experience brings importance to this current issue and validates the proposal for change. How much change, what change and how long will the change take place. Although this issue has many perspectives and opinions on how the war on drugs could be “won”, I will focus on two perspectives: drug criminalization and drug legalization. In a Human Rights lens, I will discuss the limitations and strengths of both methods. In the opinion of some and with hindsight the status quo regarding drugs requires reform in order to reverse the unintended consequences of drug prohibition. In the opinion of others criminalizing participants in the drug trade should be penalized under the law.

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