Robert Trevino And Alan Richard's Attitudes Towards Drug Legalization Among Drug Users?

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To this day, the debate on drugs is still an issue. How does one classify a drug as “good” or “bad”? The Article, “Attitudes Towards Drug Legalization Among Drug Users,” by Robert Trevino and Alan Richard discusses the support of drug legalization. Both also discuss the economic approaches of drug legalization. Trevino and Richard conducted a survey to ask drug users about their outlook on drugs. The results showed that the support of legalizing certain drugs has to do with the kind of “drug user” and the type of drug that is involved. Those who support the legalization of marijuana were less likely to support more harmful drugs like heroin and cocaine. While on the other hand, those who are users of more harmful drugs believed in the legalization …show more content…

“The proponents of drug legalization argue that although drugs can cause health and social problems, these are not sufficient reasons for making them illegal”(Trevino & Richard, 2002, p.105). The other main question that drug users raise are that alcohol and cigarettes both cause extreme harm but they are legal! “A study by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) and the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) reports that alcohol abuse and alcoholism generated about 60% of the estimated costs ($148 billion), while drug abuse and dependence accounted for the remaining 40% ($98 billion)”(Trevino & Richard, 2002, p.92). Statistics show that there are more issues with alcohol abuse than drug abuse, but drugs are considered much worse in our …show more content…

People react to the drugs in their system and have different experiences than others. “We are aware of that one person’s pain experience may differ from another’s based on factors such as tolerance..” (Faupel, Horowitz & Weaver, 2010, pg.13). What does it feel like to be high? The heart increases rapidly and gives the user an anxious feeling; one user could feel fine while the other not so much. The article relates to this because one person may think that marijuana is not harmful and that it should be legalized while another person with a heart condition may think differently. “The distinction between legal and illegal drugs is largely political; ideally it would be informed by science” (Faupel, Horowitz & Weaver, 2010, pg.20). It is a mistake to assume that all illegal drugs are

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