Drug Essay Essays - Drug Control Law, Psychoactive Drugs

Matthew Screws English 1101 Anderson 2/25/19 Decriminalize All Drugs Everyone is aware of what illegal drugs are and how people who use illicit drugs are viewed by societies throughout the world. This can eas ily be defined by what Thomas Hobbes, Rousseau, and John Locke stated in the Human Project; "For them the effectiveness of the social contract depends on our ability to obtain a satisfactory balance between what we want and what we're prepared to give up getting it. The social contract breaks down when people believe they're surrendering too much o r not getting enough in return." It is not unheard of to have laws to protect us from relatively harmful substances and not from devastating effects of other substances that happen to be legal. Tobacco causes 480,000 deaths per year in the United States, including more than 41,000 deaths resulting from second hand smoke exposure. Alcohol claims the life of around 88,000 people annually and that number grows when looking at alcohol related sicknesses. These facts suggest that may be the public is being led astray and being taught to fear the wrong substances and into complacency with hazardous substances by allowing their sale and consumption. So why is there more concern of illicit drugs when more deaths result from cigarettes and alcohol. The decriminal ization of drugs will no longer punish harmless individuals for victimless crimes, support lower addiction rates , and improve the relationship between law enforcement and the communities they have sworn to protect and serve. In 2017 the FBI's uniform crime report showed that law enforcement made 1.6 million arrests for drug violations in which more than eighty five percent were for simple possession. That means that every twenty seconds someone is being arrested for a drug law violation. Instead of getting these people the help they deserve they will be dragged through the legal system and have the book thrown at them. Each day thousands of people are convicted and cycled through jails and prisons. These people often spend extended periods on probation or parole and are left with debt from the court ordered fines they have to pay. Having a possession charge on your criminal record automatically puts you at a disadvantage from someone without. Jobs, housing authorities , educational institutions, and many others will judge you solely because of your criminal record. Those impacted are disproportionately communities of color and the poor. Now imagine if drug possess ion was decriminalized . Police would no longer be spending millions of hours, and billions of taxpayer dollars arresting people who possess a small amount of drugs for personal use. Furthermore, drug decriminalization will lower the addiction rates by treating this as a health problem and not as a criminal on e. With drug possession decriminalized it gives addicts a way out to seek the help they deserve without being criticized so harshly by the public. A good country to look at is Portugal who decriminalized drugs in 2001. They treat addiction like an illness and people caught in possession is either given a warning, small fine, or told to appear before a local commission which consists of a lawyer, doctor, and social worker. This commission helps the offender by educating them about treatments and harm reduction. Another thing they provide is clean needles and other paraphernalia involved in using drugs. They even provide places to do it at. This is great because it takes away the stereotypical abandoned house and dirty needles situation and instead gives people who are sick a place to come without fear and make themselves f eel better again. People often do things just because they are told not to and w ith drug possession decriminalized there is also the chance that people will leave drugs alone because there is not the illegal allure that there once was. Finally, the last change decriminalization can make is how people view law enforcement. If someone is making their way down the road and they are in possession of drugs they will do everything possible to avoid police officers. There is a fear set out by the police that it does not matter what amount of drugs you have but they are going to throw you in jail