Those who are
skeptical of legalizing marijuana may have this view because they fear that the
legalization of such a drug could have harmful effects on our society. Some
people may believe that legalizing cannabis could lead to a huge increase in
addiction and crime, as well as causing a drain on our criminal justice system. However,
the prohibition of alcohol in the early 20th century caused a notable increase in consumption, addiction, and organized crime all
throughout the country. The prohibition of cannabis which is seen today is no different. Why should the United States government continue to waste billions of taxpayers' dollars on the pointless war on drugs? The belief that prohibition works is
highly illogical based on historical evidence, and there are several instances
which demonstrate that legalizing cannabis could actually have very positive
results on our society.
For example,
Portugal legalized all drugs in June of 2001, and skeptics predicted disaster
just like they do today in the United States. However, a lawyer and author by
the name of Glenn Greenwald began researching the effects of legal drugs in Portugal, and the results were very good. Greenwald told Time
magazine, “Judging by every metric, drug decriminalization in Portugal has been
a resounding success. It has enabled the Portuguese government to manage and
control the drug problem far better than virtually every other Western country"
(O’Neil). Glenn Greenwald’s research study concluded that rates of drug
addiction and HIV both decreased drastically as a direct result of Portugal’s
decision to decriminalize all drugs. Greenwald is quoted as saying, "By
freeing its citizens from the fear of prosecution and imprisonment for drug
usage, Portugal has dramatically improved its ability to encourage drug addicts
to avail themselves of treatment. The resources that were previously devoted to
prosecuting and imprisoning drug addicts are now available to provide treatment
programs to addicts” (O’Neil).
An essay titled
“The Decriminalization Movement” by Dr. James Austin outlines the potential
effects of the legalization of cannabis on our society. Dr. James makes a very convincing argument for why we should decriminalize marijuana, and he discusses the positive effects that it would have on our overcrowded justice system. An excerpt from the
essay says the following, “Perhaps the most powerful and appealing argument for
marijuana decriminalization (and/or decriminalizing other drugs) is that it
would save a huge amount of government money now being spent on the enforcement
of such laws. The basic tenets of the cost saving argument can be summarized as
follows: 1. The criminal justice system, ranging from police to corrections,
now allocates a significant portion of its budgets arresting, prosecuting,
sentencing and incarcerating marijuana users, dealers and others involved in
the illegal drug infrastructure (e.g., transporters, manufacturers of drug
paraphernalia, etc.). 2. If these behaviors would no longer be labeled as
criminal, criminal justice agencies would reduce the enforcement and processing
tasks now associated with such crimes. 3. There is a direct relationship
between the proportion of arrests or cases processed for marijuana crimes by
the criminal justice system and the amount of money expended by these same
agencies. 4. By reducing or eliminating these marijuana related events, there
would be a proportionate decrease in the agency expenses” (James).
Austin, James, Ph.D. "The
Decriminalization Movement." NORML. The JFA Institute, n.d.
Web. 07 Apr. 2014.
This is an essay
which I stumbled upon while browsing the website for the organization NORML, which stands
for National Organization to Reform Marijuana Laws. This website was extremely useful in obtaining all kinds of information related to cannabis. This essay is written by James
Austin Ph.D who is writing for the JFA Institute, an unbiased organization that
evaluates criminal justice practices in order to create research based policy
solutions. This article was incredibly useful to me for this project because it
provided me with lots of solid statistics regarding the effects of
decriminalization on our society. Austin addresses decriminalization’s effect
on use, crime, arrests and court processing, as well as its impact on the correctional
system and government expenditures.
O'Neil, Tony. "Ten Years Ago Portugal Legalized All
Drugs -- What Happened Next?"Alternet. The
Fix, 14 July
2011. Web. 07 Apr. 2014.
This was an article that I found when I
was searching for information regarding Portugal’s decision to legalize all
drugs. The article is written by Tony O’Neil and was posted on a website called
Alternet in July of 2011, ten years
after Portugal’s decriminalization of drugs. An attorney and author by the name
of Glenn Greenwald conducted research about the effects of Portugal’s decriminalization
on its society. I feel that the United
States, as well as other nations, can use Portugal as a model for how to
address their country’s drug problems, and this article provides evidence to
support that claim.
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