Decriminalization Of Drugs Essay

For decades Americans have used the War on Drugs to paint illicit drugs and their users as contraband and criminals respectively. While they are correct in illuminating the harrowing physical effects of drugs, they have forgotten the damaging effect the War on Drugs itself has had on society. Because of all the ills criminalization of drugs has caused, I would personally agree to support “Hamsterdam” by supporting the decriminalization of drugs. I believe that society needs to stop painting drug users as criminals, but rather as victims. Most people don’t use drugs to defy the law, but rather because it is the only way they can escape the realities of their life. Arresting drug uses does not make them clean, it just fills up a jail cell that should belong to someone who committed truly tragic acts against society. Also by arresting drug users we give them permanent convictions, which hurts them even more and sometimes makes them even more inclined to keep using starting a vicious cycle that is hard to break.

I think that by decriminalizing we could redirect our efforts towards helping these people who are suffering from drugs, especially the addicts. Police could try to teach about drug safety in the schools, but real drug education that goes beyond “just say no”, the type

If it were the US would have put it into effect ears ago. There is still the possibility that drug use would not go down, or might increase because there are people who do not do drugs solely for legal reason. Also because selling is still illegal dealers might not really change their thuggish ways. Also there is a remote possibility that decriminalizing could lead official to ignore plights of drug users. While all these outcomes have some possibility, I think that pros just outweigh the cons. Prohibition has been in place for decades and it has achieved mostly nothing. The billions of dollars spent have not made us that much closer to a drug – free