Drug Legalization: Drug Decriminalization By Jag Davies

Jag Davies, starts his article by making the claim that half of all adults in the US have used an illegal drug in their past. This would mean that over 150 million adults in the United States have used an illegal drug before! Jag then launches into the main topic of discussion for his essay: Drug Legalization, by asking his readers if they would want any of their loved ones go to jail for mere possession of a hard drug. The author, assuming that no one would want a friend or family member to go to jail for hard drug possession, begins to make his case for drug decriminalization by stating that legalizing the possession of hard drugs could signify a drop in criminal arrests linked to having little amounts of drugs for personal use. Jag then goes on to claim that this is a crucial time for drug law reform, seeing as President Trump’s administration is anti drug legalization, and states that the government of the United States is better off focusing on policies and reforms that would push for new ways to treat drug addiction and deaths related to drug overdose.

He then provides us with experimental evidence that showed that punishments for drug possession actually reduced drug overdose, addiction and HIV/AIDS. He then goes to state another reason to decriminalize drugs: it fueled mass incarceration, racism and mass criminalization. He also gives evidence to support this claim, including the fact that even though black people made up abut 13% of the United States total population and used drugs in similar rates other race groups, 29% of drug law criminals were