Drugs Decriminalization and Legalization Issues Essay

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The current scale of the problem with the distribution of drugs makes the issue of legal regulation of this activity increasingly acute. In general, there are three approaches: decriminalization, legalization, and maintaining the status quo. Although the first two options are a certain kind of extremes, the need for their use is evident. The current generally accepted attitude towards drugs, in which their use and distribution in the vast majority of places is strictly prohibited, has led to the situation that we have now. A considerable number of teenagers are in prison for having even a tiny dose of cannabis. The existing legislation only increases the number of crimes associated with this activity and supports drug addiction. Consequently, the need to take at least some measures is obvious, and, in my opinion, decriminalization or legalization may be the answer to this question.

Since the tightening of laws has already been tried and given negative results, society is turning to two other alternatives. According to research, both decriminalization and legalization, despite the exact opposite in their essence, give approximately the same results (Maier et al., 2017). While this finding is somewhat unexpected, using any of these methods leads to a decrease in the level of drug-related crime. The overall statistical difference between the use of these methods is negligible, so additional benefits need to be evaluated. In this context, I believe that legalizing drugs is much more correct than decriminalizing them.

In the latter case, laws that punish people for using drugs are removed. However, this does not create any alternative, no official sales network. There is no way to manage this structure with this option, which could theoretically lead to much more chaos. On the other hand, legalization officially allows people to use drugs for medical or recreational purposes and creates a legal basis for drug trafficking. At the same time, since the state is the primary regulator of this issue, it will receive income from the sale of drugs. Practice shows that such an approach can bring in revenues of tens of millions of dollars (Maier et al., 2017). This money raised can be used for public projects, for example, building schools. Thus, I favor legalization rather than decriminalization since the first option provides many more advantages in both control and distribution, ultimately forming a more systematic structure.

Reference

Maier, S. L., Mannes, S., & Koppenhofer, E. L. (2017). The implications of marijuana decriminalization and legalization on crime in the United States. Contemporary Drug Problems, 44(2), 125-146. Web.

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