Soft Drugs

I hope you all can agree that a better idea would go after the source of the drugs or even the treatment of the people using them and hopefully in time the number of people using narcotics drops dramatically. But realistically what happens is people using and distributing narcotics are entered into a never ending life of crime because the government punishes the criminal offenders’ absurd amounts that the government knows they cannot afford. So once released from prison or jail these criminals have debts that they have to repay and no way to pay them. So what is the answer? Crime is the answer. That is where the cynical cycle starts all over again and these released inmates find themselves in a familiar situation; trying to make money for reasons that don’t benefit themselves. But, unfortunately, the only way these people know how to make money is deemed deviant by society.

I believe the War on Drugs continues to be a major issue for this country for a while, but that doesn’t mean we should be seeing the same people in and out of prison. I believe we need to create programs within the criminal justice system to help individuals become successful and get drugs far away from them. Group therapy may be a start for some of these individuals. They can talk about why they became

The fact that the United States treats drug use as a terrible crime instead of treating it as a physical problem or illness, and the drug problem is still not going away, shows that the United States is going about drug abuse all wrong. The United States has over 25% of the world's incarcerated population and over half of those are in prison for drug abuse/distribution. Other countries have decriminalized drugs and have seen an extremely positive difference in the drug abuse problem. Therapeutic drug treatments can be offered as an option to drug abusers so they feel safe and not afraid or angry of what is happening. The United States needs to find a new policy on drug abuse because the current policy has failed.

Since 1971, the United States has been on a war against drugs. Yet four decades and one trillion dollars later, we are still fighting this war (Branson). All that we have to show for this war is drugs running rampant and tons of citizens incarcerated. Mandatory sentencing for minor drug offences should be overturned due to overflowing prisons, damaging families, and the scare tactic it was created to be has failed.

More than 45 years ago President Richard Nixon announced and declared the nation is at war, that war was the "War on Drugs". Nancy Reagan campaigned heavily in the fight against drug use as well; her fight was that of teaching young children the slogan of “Just Say No”. The goals of the criminal justice system in the war on drugs have been a never ending fight against the sale of illicit drugs and that of combating drug abuse. We will discuss the increased resources spent on law enforcement and rehabilitation while making an attempt in understanding

The second thing we must look at is mandatory sentencing. I agree that we should have mandatory sentencing. You can read different studies that it does not work and it takes power away from judges. Sometimes trial rates and sentencing delays occur because of mandatory sentencing. Just think of how many repeat offenders we would have if it was not in place. I do think that it is somewhat of a deterrent for the small time users on the street. Research has shown that it is the low-level street dealers, mules and addicts that this affects most, but if we didn’t start with them then where? You must punish the user just as much as the dealer or “kingpins”. The dealers would not have any business if it was not for the users and if we can get to them easier than the main dealers, than I am all for mandatory sentencing.

The idea that decriminalizing drugs will decrease the value, thus decreasing the reward for such illegal enterprises is quite simplistic. Such a violent neighborhood would benefit from a properly funded and trained police force that assesses the needs of the community and implements changes accordingly. Reducing police presence would be counter-productive. I do agree that incarceration or probation is not the optimal usage of government funds when individuals are arrested for non-violent drug crime. Mandatory sentencing laws could become mandatory drug treatment laws.

The War on Drugs, like the war on Terrorism, is a war that America may not be able to afford to win. For over forty years the United States has been fighting the War on Drugs and there is no end in sight. It has turned into a war that is about politics and economics rather than about drugs and criminals. The victims of this war are numerous; but perhaps they are not as numerous as those who benefit from the war itself.

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.

Drug trafficking and drug abuse has long been a frustrating feature of United States and other country around the world. The United Nations Office of Drug Control and Crime Prevention points out that the fight against drug

Of course, there are many people who would agree with this proposition, but most of them are drug users or spreaders. Supporters of this act say that legalised drugs would reduce criminality as drug addicts are forced to do crimes to get money for drugs. Also, they are using freedom of choice to convince that drugs should be legalised. But I think, that since a minute you first taste drugs , you do not belong to

There has always been a close association between drugs and crime. Drugs have been seen as a way out of suffering in one’s life and so as long as there is suffering there will always be a market for drugs. The struggle to keep one’s self sane when away from a substance they need can cause them to do crazy and even violent things to others. Things like murdering someone because they did not have proper control of themselves is not something unheard of by any means. These people can been seen as both victims and criminals, as they were not in a sound state of mind when doing these actions, however them doing the actions does not mean they should get off scot-free. The users are only one side of the coin, the other is the drug dealers. The dealers do not have to be selling purely illegal drugs, they may be selling prescription drugs too, but in the pursuit of their own survival in a struggling life, they turn to selling substances to others. By doing so they can even amass a fortune, but this is still a crime, and what people will do to try to get all this potential money can span from robbing to murder. The articles I read from different media support the fact there is indeed a tie with crime and drugs, being that an increase of drugs on the street leads to more crime.

Today in our modern society, many people believe that teen’s develop a mindset of having a clean system and to stay drug free. However, people are not able to foresee that the drug use in America has rising up tremendously. Studies have shown that drugs can not only have impact on your life, but also have impact on those who surround you and also can led to the absence of adolescence. It leads to bad habits and only brings evil deeds. The possession of drugs and the conspiracy sell is illegal in the Unites States. If arrest and put on trial due to drugs can mean serious jail time. According to the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, people are considered to have a substance use disorder. (Live Science) The Live Science states “... people have strong urges to use a substance or can't control their use of it, or if their use impairs them in social situations or leads to risky behavior.” Members of society have needs when a drug is being in place into there normal day routine. The report also states that an estimated 27.1 million people in the U.S. used an illegal drug in the past month. (Live Science) The mass-production, sale and possession of illegal drugs should be banned in the United States.

Drug abuse and crime is not a new concept and the statistics around the problem have continued to rise. According to (Office of Justice Programs, 2011), there were an estimated 1,846,400 state and local arrests for drug abuse in the United States. Additionally, 17 percent of state prisoners and 18 percent of federal inmates said they committed their current offense to obtain money for drugs (Office of Justice Programs, 2011). Based on this information, we can conclude that our criminal justice systems are saturated with drug abusers. The United States has the highest imprisonment rate and about 83 percent of arrests are for possession of illegal drugs (Prisons & Drug Offenders, 2011). Based on these figures, I can conclude that we should be more concerned about solving the drug abusers problems and showing them an alternative lifestyle rather than strict penalty of long term incarceration which will inevitably challenge their ability to be fully functioning citizens after release.

Drugs have been a problem in society for a very long time and it is still an ongoing subject of debate. Different organisations work hard to keep people from using drugs, though a new issue has arisen. During the last few years there have been discussions in some countries to decriminalize soft drugs, including cannabis and ecstasy.