According to Drugpolicy.org the U.S spends annually more than $51,000,000,000 on the war on drugs. The number of people arrested in the U.S. on nonviolent drug charges 1.5 million people . The number of people arrested for marijuana law violation 693,482 and 88 percent of those arrested were arrested for possession only . The tax revenue that drug legalization would yield annually, if currently -legal drugs were taxed at rates comparable to those on alcohol and tobacco $46.7 billion. As a citizen of the United States we always hear about the deficiency that Americans deal with and the ‘’ recession’’ that we were in. Also that our jails and prisons are overcrowded and that our homicide rate is higher that any country in the world. I believe …show more content…
Some may argue that general drug liberalization would lead to more people abusing drugs. Furthermore that illicit drugs would be a threat to the health and welfare of mankind, and would violates children's right to grow up in a drug-free environment. The counter argument by not liberalizing the war on drugs the quality of the drugs to people take can not be screened. In Addition, there is a huge lost of income as stated at the beginning and that crime would also be reduced. If drugs become legal it would carry the same guidelines of those of alcohol and tobacco with mandated labels with dosages and medical warning , restrictions on advertising , age limitations, restrictions of the amount purchased at a time, requirements on the form in which certain drugs would be supplied ,ban on sale to intoxicated persons, and special user licenses to purchase particular drugs. Examples of countries that have abolished all criminal penalties for personal possession of drugs or have reformed laws that decriminalize the personal possessions of drugs or have government regulations are Czech Republic , Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Argentina , Brazil, Colombia ,Costa Rica, Ecuador, Honduras, México
Randy E. Bartnett claims that “drug laws cause more harm to addicts and society than drugs themselves.” According to Bartnett, “Drug prohibition makes drugs so expensive, the addicts trying to crime in order to obtain money to buy them. Furthermore, drug prohibition is unfair in that it punishes users for committing a “crime” that has no victim.” Some people might agree with the idea that legalizing drugs would benefit addicts because then they would not be able to obtain drugs so easily.
A country where all drugs are legalized can be the perfect economic and social compromise. Ultimately, it contains the both of best worlds as it would allow for the economy to flourish due to the infusion of new income from tax reforms. Drug liberalization is the next step for the United States for us to become a new country with limited violence less drug abuse and a better prison system. Drug liberalization needs to happen and happen fast for the progression of the people as a civilization. Portugal in 2001 decided to take the initiative to decriminalize all drugs within the country.
Selling and distributing the drug would still be a criminal offense. It could mean rehabilitation, a fine of however much the state decides on the convicted, this means less incarceration for drug users and addicts. Countries such as the Netherlands, Switzerland, England and Italy have controlled both drugs and crime, whereas in the United States harshly punitive programs have increased the supply of both crime and drug use. Considering these harsh consequences, this is part of the reason why so many are incarcerated in the U.S. 46.2% of the population of people incarcerated at the moment is for drug offenses.
Within a community which legalizes drugs, consumers experience just the downsides of usage. Using prohibition, furthermore, they stake offense, penalties and fees, losing specialized permits, and others. Therefore prohibition unambiguously damages people who benefit from regardless of prohibition. And also prohibition does indeed, come with large expenses, irrespective of how dangerous drugs is perhaps. (SPIEGEL ONLINE,
Decriminalization in America Imagine a country where all drugs are legal. Most people imagine a place with addicts lining the streets, needles and baggies full of unknown substances littering the floor, and thousands of deaths due to overdosing. This is because of the stigma around drug use that has risen from the war on drugs, which has turned the use of drugs from being seen as a health issue into being treated as a crime. Instead of trying to help the people who are abusing these substances as an escape from their normal lives, the government decided to blame drugs for causing people to abuse them. But in reality drugs can’t force someone to try one, each and every addict started off as just a normal person experimenting, and sending
The financial costs of illicit drug use can be roughly measured by how much the government spend on law enforcement and the loss of human productivity. Globally the world spends $100 billion annually on law enforcement aimed in an effort to enforce, prevent, treat, and reduce harm caused by illegal drugs. Despite all the money spent on the interdiction of illegal drugs, drug markets continue to rise and expand. Law enforcement provides very poor value for money that should instead be allocated for education, public infrastructure or in the form of lower taxes. Additionally, drug use causes loss in human productivity which is bad for the economy.
One thing that could possibly help is that if they made drugs legal, we could easily help stop most of the issues between individuals. Everyday, people are sent to jail rather than being supported to get treatment. UNODC acknowledges the idea of being sent to treatment rather than jail, which is starting to become a mainstream heath care issue (167). People who consume these drugs on the daily basis could take notice in what they 're doing which makes them realize that it 's leading them in the wrong direction. If we could make this happen, the number of people being sent to jail can decrease.
Would the decriminalisation and / Legalisation of controlled substances improve or hinder the economic, health and social circumstances of drugs users, their families, communities and society? This essay will briefly outline the current policies on drugs in Ireland and will examine the policies and substance misuse from a European and international perspective; then it will discuss how decriminalisation of drugs and substances can improve or hinder the economic, health and social circumstances of drug users, their families, communities and society in general. Examples of controlled substances in Ireland include cocaine, heroin, methadone, cannabis (full list of controlled substances found in the schedule Misuse of Drugs Act 1977).
Just last year, there were one million five hundred sixty one thousand two hundred thirty one total number of drug arrests. For possession of a drug, marijuana and cocaine were the highest carried drug. For the selling or manufacturing of drugs, cocaine and heroin
However this turns out not be true whatsoever. A clear example of why this is wrong, is Portugal. In 2001 Portugal changed their drug policy. Whilst drug possession and use still had the status of illegality, it was changed from a criminal offense to an administrative offense. Rather than fining or jailing offenders, Portugal decided to put them in treatment instead.
The War on Drugs that the government has been fighting for almost two centuries has been a failure. The War on Drugs has made criminal organizations, violence around the world, and drugs themselves worse. The War on Drugs has negatively affected the lives of millions of people around the world as it has led to massive incarceration in the United States; corruption, political destabilization, and violence in Latin America, Asia, and Africa; to systemic human rights abuses across the world. Prohibition of certain drugs has actually led to higher rate of violence and murders all around the world. Which drugs are legal and illegal is not really based on any specific scientific assessment of the relative risk of the drugs, but it has everything
While there are many ongoing topics in the United States, the legalization of drugs is one of the most largely debated in the United States. The common argument of this debate is whether drugs should be legalized or kept illegal. Within this debate, some writers agree that there is a potential profit from taxation, how the war on drugs has been a failure, but disagree on that the legalization of drugs would create a safer country. The first point of agreement among those who agree about legalization of drugs is that there is a large potential profit from the legalization of drugs. For instance Elliott Morse, who is pro-legalization, makes the point that legalization could net in $70 billion (paragraph 29) in taxes annually which he then compares
Would legalization contribute to their addiction? What would prevent a black market from emerging? Because these and other questions cannot be answered to the satisfaction of the U.S. public and our lawmakers, America will never legalize drugs. Legalization does
As of recent, the war on drugs has been a very often discussed topic due to many controversial issues. Some people believe the War on Drugs has been quite successful due to the amount of drugs seized and the amount of drug kingpins arrested. I believe this to be the wrong mindset when it comes to the war on drugs. The war on drugs isn’t a winnable one so we must do all that is possible to assist those who struggle with drug addiction and decriminalize small amounts of drugs. These minor changes in the way we combat drugs will create significant change and have lasting effects.
Also, the prisons should be supervised completely by the American government. In reality, there is a problem of losing