Julie Nguyen Nguyen 1
Professor Gary Jason
Business Ethics 312
18 April 2016
Drugs in the United States There has been controversy centered around the thought of legalizing drugs in the U.S and the effects of legalizing or not legalizing drugs. There are several drugs such as cocaine, heroin, opium, to name a few, with the most common being marijuana. The question raised on this topic is whether we should prohibit drug use, making it illegal or only allow marijuana to be legal. Discussions on this topic mention that drugs will be available in the market despite marking it illegal and will still be accessible in the black market regardless whether we choose to have this option available. However, some argue that these
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$8.7 billion in savings would result under marijuana alone, and 32.6 billion on the scale of other drugs, like heroin and opium.
Nguyen 2
Many see the legalization of drugs an opportunity for financial growth in the economy. This would garner interest in California, as the state government faced a budget deficit of around $20 billion during the year 2011. Following this argument, both Waldock and Miron mention that costs saved from legalizing drugs are greater than the option of decriminalization. They argue that this result is the cause of three reasons, first, jail sentences or even arrests made for possessing a small amount is significantly decreased. Second, costs related to prosecution or incarceration in comparison to decriminalization, which is shown to be much more minimal in savings. Third, a tax can be placed in drug production and also for being sold as well.
In addition, another benefit in which legalizing drugs can provide would it’s health benefits. This argument is more applicable for the drug, marijuana, as there are many uses for this drug for medicinal purposes. Massachusetts, California and New Jersey are some states that legalize marijuana and use of the drug under certain conditions. A medical condition that marijuana has proven to have shown a positive effect on is cancer. Many patients diagnosed with cancer who experience and have to go under chemotherapy find that marijuana helps in aspects of mood, nausea and vomiting and
Proponents on the legalization of drugs believe if drugs were to become legal; the black market worth billions of dollars would become extinct, drug gangsters would disappear, addicts would stop committing crimes to support their habit and the prison system would not be overwhelmed with a problem they cannot defeat. The decriminalization of drugs will only make illegal drugs cheaper, easier to get and more acceptable to use. “The U.S. has 20 million alcoholics and alcohol misusers, but only around 6 million illegal drug addicts. If illegal drugs were easier to obtain, this figure would rise”(Should Drugs be decriminalized? No.November 09, 2007 Califano Joseph A, Jr).”
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
This paper will look at the benefits and drawbacks to legalizing marijuana by looking in at Colorado.The state made forty million dollars by taxed marijuana in 2014 alone, also Colorado saved countless millions because of the extremely lower amounts of marijuana arrest and court cases. It is not clear how having new recreational marijuana stores opening will affect the cannabis market, or businesses expanding around them. Gov. John Hickenlooper says that the economy is thriving with record setting numbers of tourists (73.1 million). 49 percent of those tourist said that legal marijuana influenced their decisions to vacation in Colorado. The ER’s in Colorado have also seen a rise in numbers of marijuana related cases and those cases in non-residents have almost doubled. An unexpected situation that arose from legal cannabis was the amount of electricity that is being use to grow the drug. Some cannabusinesses have to go green with solar or wind power. There are many varying views on the effects of legal marijuana have developed in Colorado since marijuana became legal in 2014.
The cost to keep Marijuana illegal is too expensive and unnecessary for something that does not pose a threat to society. The amount of money that is spent arresting responsible Marijuana users can be used towards something more high priority and important that will benefit the United States. Many Marijuana users are taking up valuable space in jail for possession when they in fact do not pose a threat to society. FBI records show that 829,627 marijuana users were arrested in 2006 which is a 43,000 person increase, for possession alone (Should Governments Legalize and Tax Marijuana). Jeffrey Miron is the director of undergraduate studies at Harvard University and estimates that legalizing marijuana would save $13.7 billion per year in government spending on enforcement of prohibition. Miron states that “First, legalization eliminates arrests for trafficking and possession. Second, legalization saves judicial and incarceration expenses. Third, legalization allows taxation of drug
With addiction rates rising every year, the overwhelming drug dilemma has opened the eyes of numerous governments around the world. This paper will discuss what decriminalization is and if decriminalizing drugs in the United States will lead to lower crime rates and lower incarceration rates. In addition, it will discuss the impact decriminalization will have on society, the effect it will have on the economy and finally how it influences the now addicted, should legalization occur. Currently, Portugal has decriminalized all drugs in every drug classification for recreational use. Furthermore, Colorado is the only state in the United States, to have decriminalized marijuana. In looking at the drug laws in Portugal, Colorado, Mexico, and the Netherlands this review will examine what appears to be working and not working of both decriminalizing and keeping certain drug classifications illegal. Multiple web-based articles, books, and peer-reviewed articles were the many sources used in researching this paper. Can drug decriminalization be a practical way to cut down on drug related crimes? Will it benefit society, boost the economy, and help the addict? Based on this research I have concluded at a federal level, the United States should decriminalize
All the drug related charges are forcing the prison population into overwhelming numbers. Were drug usage decriminalized this could relieve some of the stress on the penal system. Baird states in her piece that the prison population would diminish greatly with legalization and all the money saved can then be used for many more beneficial things “…like treatment for addiction, health, and prevention.” Walter, standing on the
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
The phrase “war on drugs” in California incorporates a great matter of financial spending that attempts to enforce marijuana prohibition. Every year, more than $51,000,000,000 is spent annually in the U.S. on the war on drugs according to Drug Policy Alliance. Our national debt only contains three more zeros. In June 1971, President Richard Nixon formally declared a "war on drugs" that would be directed toward eradication, interdiction, and incarceration. However, the U.S. has spent over $1 trillion trying to enforce President Nixon’s declaration. Legalizing marijuana would save law enforcement resources which in California is in the range of $280 – 370 million per year with roughly $215 - $300 million associated
Drug abuse is all around the world. Many billions of dollars are wasted trying to prevent drugs in the United States. Drug legalization could reduce government costs and raise tax revenues. The government worries that people’s health is going to go wrong and more money would have to be wasted on health insurance. The effects of drug use on society, and suggests some solutions to the problem.
According to him any tax revenue made from these substances would not cover the ridiculous high amount of expenses made on social costs associated with these substances (Mineta). Mineta states how illegal drugs “represented about $181 billion in social costs in 2002—a figure that would increase, because of increased use, under legalization” (Americas Quarterly). Mineta relates this to alcohol and tobacco, two substances that cost more
on the war on drugs are more than $51,000,000,000 per year. Number of Americans incarcerated in 2014 in federal, state and local prisons and jails: 2,224,400 or 1 in every 111 adults, the highest incarceration rate in the world. (Drug Policy). Imagine the amount of money we can save just by legalizing marijuana. Statists shows, Number of states that have approved legally taxing and regulating marijuana such as Alaska, Colorado, Oregon and Washington have eliminated more criminal
However, drug use is a matter of supply and demand. As Bakalar as demand exists, someone is going to supply it, either legally or illegally. Supporters of legalization believe that if government regulates drugs such as cocaine and marijuana by imposing taxes, then the black market will be eliminated (Bakalar). However, the higher the tax rate, the higher the price of the drugs, and not many users gangs who sell marijuana and cocaine under the market price. In addiction, children and teenagers will be obviously banned from purchasing marijuana and cocaine.
What is one law that could be altered to greatly benefit the United States as well as the people who live inside it? The legalization of marijuana, the legalization of marijuana in a single state,Colorado, has provided great increases in tax revenue and decreased the number of arrests for minor drug charges gradually yet substantially in the past years. Marijuana is not a harmful drug yet is illegal while many legal substances, such as alcohol and tobacco, are perfectly legal even with a clear correlation to negative health and disease. Marijuana should be legalized with the same standards as current Colorado laws to increase federal tax revenue as well as decrease government costs by reducing the federal prison population for petty drug charges.
Imagine that you suffered tremendous pain from a medical condition and the only medicine that could relieve this pain is illegal so because of this barrier, you have to resort to other drugs synthetically formulated in a lab. These drugs, which are not a natural product of nature, do nothing to help you. This is the case with many people, who oftentimes forego the law and purchase the drug in question-marijuana-on the black market. Marijuana, otherwise known as pot, weed, broccoli, or grass, is a beneficial substance that the government should legalize. For decades the legality of marijuana has been a hot topic, and this debate has only increased in recent times. People have many
Decriminalization will save taxpayers a large amount of money because of arresting, prosecuting, and incarcerating fewer people for drug use and possession (Lang, 2013). The number of prisoners has risen “from 300,000 in 1972 to 2.3 m[illion] today, the highest rate of incarceration in the world, overwhelmingly because of the war on drugs” (Wolf, 2011, para. 7). The Federation of American Scientists’ Drug Policy Analysis Bulletin (as cited in The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws [NORML], 2014) states that in the United States, arrests and prosecution for marijuana violations cost between $7.5 billion and $10 billion each year, and “90% of these