Legalizing Drugs In The United States

Drug decriminalization is opposed by the majority of Americans. Leaders in drug prevention, education, treatment, and law enforcement are against it, as are many political leaders. However, pro-drug advocacy groups, who support the use of drugs, are making headlines. They are influencing legislation and having a significant impact on the national policy debate in the United States. Although, pro-advocacy groups claim decriminalization of drugs will lower incarceration rates and boost the economy, drugs must stay illegal in America, if not, more people will use, causing negative effects on health, families and communities.

Drug policy is a crucial topic in the country today. Substance abuse, as well as drug-related crime rates, are a huge problem. This is a fact. The way to fix the problem of substance abuse, however, is widely disagreed upon. Some think that stricter laws regarding drug possession and use would solve the problem, while others believe that loosening the restrictions would be a better option. The issue of legalizing drugs, especially marijuana, is one that is debated all the time. In fact, in 1995, a survey was conducted on the most important policy issues and eighty five percent of the country placed drugs at the top of the list (Falco 1996). Many states are actually beginning to decriminalize, and even

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.

According to Kristof (2009), the legalization of drugs is another solution to drug trafficking. With drugs more readily available, at lower prices and higher levels of potency many law enforcement personal and politicians favor legalization of drugs. While other experts favor keeping drug production and sell illegal, but decriminalizing possession. Either way if it is legalize it must be regulated. According to Kristof (2009), the United States have inquired three consequences due to the failure of “The War on Drugs”, increased population in jails, empowered criminals and terrorists, and squandered resources that cannot be replaced. With that said, why continue down a road were the drug problem is not getting resolved. Before drugs were prohibited, usage levels were lower among cocaine and heroin users, and states with legalized marijuana have not seen an increase in consumption, according to Kristof

The United States of America stands as one of the leading territories in the consumption of forbidden

The current policy in use by the United States concerning illegal drugs is both outdated and unfair. This so-called war on drugs is a deeply rooted campaign of prohibition and unfair sentencing that is very controversial and has been debated for many years. The war on drugs is designed so that it will never end. This current drug was has very little impact on the overall supply of prohibited drugs and its impact on demand seems non-existent. United States’ taxpayers are spending billions of dollars on this failure of policy. They are spending billions to incarcerate drug users instead offering drug treatment which could help lower demand. Legalizing illicit would lower abuse and deaths from use and could have a positive economic impact on the United States. Certain industries are making massive sums of money by capitalizing on the drug war.

The complete banning of all drugs means that each user is a criminal; illegal purchasing, illegal means of financing the addiction, and association with fellow criminals of varying degrees. By studying the interactions between addicts and their dealers there is a clear cycle of dependency. Addicts are spending well above their means to fund their problem and making their money in illegal activities. Decreasing criminal activity by making drug substances legal, affordable, and accessible sounds bleak breaking the cycle is the plausible solution no matter political or personal

The arguments that I have just laid out are not perfect and they have some apparent flaws that some philosophers would strongly disagree with, while there are other arguments that some of the great philosophers would agree with. I will critique the arguments that I have just laid out using the perspective of three different philosophers who all have their own ideas of how the state should function and the role of the citizen. The three philosophers that I will use in this critique will be Karl Marx, John Stewart Mill, and John Locke. The reason why I picked these three philosophers is because they all agree with some aspects of my writing, while disagreeing with others. One will disagree with the role of the state and the citizens, but

I believe that the United States federal government should decriminalize all drugs and narcotics in order to stop wasting taxpayer dollars on excessive and expensive federally funded imprisonment, and to turn the issue of drug consumption back into a health issue, as opposed to a legal issue. The Unites States government is well known for having a massive and expensive prison system, widely populated by citizens incarcerated for nonviolent drug crimes. A legalization of drugs in American would drastically reduce crime rate and federal prison expenses. The drug issue, as we know it today in the U.S. is misclassified as a legal issue. With drug legalization, consumption of narcotics would become much safer, as addicts and users would be treated

If drugs were legalized, people would have taken advantage and become addict’s who then suffers all forms of social health. Such as becoming dangerous to others, overdosing, or damaging their ability to work and function properly. Keeping them from living a

Drugs are illegal for a reason, and that reason is to deter use and provide a proportional punishment for those offenses. Drug addiction is a health problem that should be treated by a doctor and handled in a very professional manner, but legalizing all drugs is not the answer to the growing drug problem in the United States. It is necessary to keep policing drug possession in order to effectively keep drug use to as low as it can possibly

There are groups of people in the criminal justice system who considers drug addiction a personal issue, not a criminal one. This could not be further from the truth; drug abuse is illegal and should be treated as such. It is a catalyst for many crimes seen today from mugging to murder. If the numbers of those who abuse drugs are reduced, the amount of crimes associated with the addiction are also reduced. Not only will crime levels be reduced, most of those who undergo treatment tend to be better prepared to do more with their lives and not re-offend.

The debate over the legalization of drugs continues to disturb the American public. Such an issue stirs up moral and religious beliefs, beliefs that are contrary to what Americans should believe. I ask all of you to please keep an open mind and hear me out on this very controversial subject. All of us have in some way or another been affected by drug, whether it is a family member or the economic burden on society. Americans often take at face value the assumptions that drugs cause addiction, which leads to crime. This is true but abundant evidence exists to support the view that legalizing illicit drugs can help solve the drug problem in America.

Many of today’s experts take information from the earlier years of United States history. In addition, they use it to support the argument that legalization will, in fact, stop the black market from growing and selling these drugs. In the 1800s, there was a large movement for temperance, or anti-alcohol, which was started by physicians, ministers, and large employers concerned about their workers. By the mid-1800s, this movement had become one of the middle class. This movement was dedicated to showing and convincing people that alcoholic drinks eroded moral character as well as the physical and mental well-being of those who drank alcohol. The temperance supporters considered alcohol as people currently view heroin. From the beginning the temperance ideology was a powerful force in making

Second of all, the black market has been going for a while and it's used to sell illegal goods as a underground economy, and many people buy drugs that aren't legal. This market gets by not being taxed all and many people can get hands on drugs that can really be deleterious to themselves and other people around them. If we would to legalize drugs , the black market would drop business and the government would be able to track down who buys the drugs by having only stores that sell least harmful drugs such as marijuana. For most, not all drugs should be legalized because of the dangerous usage of drugs to the body especially if it's a first time taking in drugs. According to the article “ Addiction Center.com” explains that “Over 90% of those with an addiction began drinking, smoking or using illicit drugs before the age of 18.” Even though with laws that enforce illegal drug usage, many people take advantage of it because it's not easily to be find so they become addicted to small drugs and eventually build up to using stronger drugs such as Psychedelic Mushrooms,Opium,Lsd,Methamphetamine, and etc. If the black market business would be to decline