Should the U.S. Government Decriminalize Drugs? - Argumentative Essay

Introduction

Despite the controversies aired out in the states of America concerning the legalization of drugs, for instance, electronic cigarettes, marijuana and all other hard drugs, the countries that have broken loose the aspects of making laws that constraint the citizens of the states towards drug-free life have outlined that benefits surpass drawbacks (Feeney & Kampman, 177). Consequently, there are multiple states in the American nations that have recorded some buoyant gains concerning the legalization of the commonly used drug that portray various medicinal advantages, marijuana. The buoyant benefits that are collected in the form of taxes on the retail trade of marijuana confer one of the reasons why the whole US nation should aim at decriminalizing drugs (Feeney & Kampman, 177). This paper seeks to shade light on the facts concerning drugs legalization in the US, some of the medical implications, the economic advantage of legalizing it and the effects that it may cause to the society as a roadmap for concluding whether drugs should be authorized or not.

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Concerning the Feeney and Kampman (176), "in 2015, Colorado and Washington's states reported that they had accumulated tax revenue worth $135 million after legalizing the use of pot" showing that legalization of other drugs other than marijuana can result in extremely considerable benefits to the US nation at large. Notwithstanding the fact that legalization of drugs is against most human and society's concerns, legalization opens up ways by which states can collect revenue to use in critical economic activities instead of burying the tax in promoting the use of drugs in private.

Regarding Goncalves, Lourenco, and Silva (200), decriminalization of drugs in Portugal led to the reduction of inmates in justice systems and helped in shaping the society to view drugs in a different perspective. In most of the researchers that were done in Portugal, the nation, therefore, made up their mind to realize that using drugs in small quantities impacted not adverse effects but made them allude to some of the health benefits of some drugs like marijuana. The Portuguese state was able to save the funds that it was using in justice systems and in feeding the inmates. On the other hand, the health benefits were sometimes found to outweigh the social issues that were created by the decriminalization of drugs thus showing that the directive offered by the new laws made matters to be smoother than the way the law enforcement officers had been struggling to fight drug cartels in the nation. Reuter (352) asserts that marijuana has various medical advantages. Thus it is a high time to break loose the ethical reasoning that prohibits the legalization of the drug since it has proven to offers many benefits than disadvantages to the economy and society and human health at large.

Also, Reuter (350) outlined that marijuana depicts various useful components that can be applied to medical intervention, especially in surgery. It was noted that marijuana as a medicine offers a numb feeling that is viable whenever carrying out an operation or mild surgery. Regarding the buoyant benefits that Washington and Colorado have collected regarding the legalization of marijuana, it can be noted that as much as people are granted an opportunity to weigh the benefits of a given illicit drug to the health and social controversies, the more a nation will beware of the best route to take. Since criminal cases tend to reduce in countries that have legalized drugs, it is a high time for another state to weigh the application of the fact.

Regarding the Portuguese legalization of the use and possession of drugs, the hot-button topic resulted in some other heated debates on whether harsh rules and laws could enable drug use and trafficking to be minimal. After realizing that drug trafficking reduces as much as the government breaks loose the laws concerning drug, Portugal outlined various concerns. For instance, it mentioned that a possible balance of the state's use of illicit drugs should be put across to enhance people's health.

On the contrary opinion, legalization of drugs in Portugal offered a platform for the spread of pandemics like HIV and Hepatitis B and C among the drug users who alluded to drug use by injection. For that matter, the aspect challenges the fact that legalization of drugs offers a chance for a nation to obtain taxes from the peddlers. Since drug-related deaths increased in Portugal as a result of the legalization of illicit drugs, it is worth a point to note that the aspect of making all drugs legal will demolish a larger population of individuals who use cocaine and other narcotic drugs that can be administered by the use of syringes. However, a proper educational program can help the society to adopt healthy tips for using the drugs as a framework for avoiding contraction of health pandemics.

Legalization of drugs like marijuana has been a burning issue in the American nation (Kampman 175). In spite of the fact that most illicit drugs portray medical advantages, the problems concerning the health of a country like Portugal makes the decriminalization to face objection unless new interventions like enhancing awareness of healthy tips in the absorption of drugs need to be put on the table. In spite of the fact that users of the drug claim how useful the drug is in creating a numb feeling and enhancing mental capability for patients of depression, the adverse effects of long-term use of drugs like cocaine and marijuana are unbearable for an average human. Feeney and Kampman (176) outline that the long-term use of "marijuana can cause problems to a person's social life, health, safety and the overall wellbeing of the youths in schools due to drug dependence and addiction." For that matter, the proper approach that the US government should take to legalize the use and possession of illicit drugs is adopting a system for airing the awareness and offering some forms of functional aspects of how to use the drug. Another element that the state should do to legalize drugs is offering the knowledge of addiction effects of the drugs in question to save the vulnerable population form damaging their brains permanently.

Legalization of illicit drugs will decrease the use of state cash in remedy frameworks thus can channel the assets that are squandered in guaranteeing observation of limiting drug use to allow the nation to invest in finding a suitable tax system procure revenue to the country (Gardener, Brennan & Weber 116). Requesting for the legalization of drugs is associated with various advantages in regards to reserves for improvement of education sectors and paying educators. Regarding a drug like marijuana, the legalization of the drug will enhance the control of glaucoma and in making epileptic people to live a seizure-free life through the raining the awareness of sparing use of the drug. For that matter, the state will be able in raising overwhelming substantial financial benefits in the form of taxes.

Portugal is one of the countries that has shown a high prevalence of HIV and AIDS since the adoption of the policy. For that matter, it is appealing to adopt policies like the rule of allowing possession of drugs with the quantity that cannot exceed using ten days can work well for medicinal drugs in the nation. The policies will enable the US nation to avoid the problems that a country like Portugal is passing through since the decriminalization of drugs that was not accompanied with possible and working restriction to the use. Much is required before rendering the legalization of drugs in the US to be implemented. For instance, Feeney and Kampman (178) asserted that the likeliness of the heavy users of marijuana to be diagnosed with schizophrenia among the individuals at 18 years is higher than pot non-smokers. With that fact in mind, much has to be watched over to avoid subjecting the whole society to a series of ailments that will be difficult to treat. Caukin, Kilmer and Kleiman's (740) research found out that marijuana use does not cause schizophrenia but might spur up the contraction of the pandemic for the individuals who are said to be predisposed to the psychotic problem.

Additionally, "adolescents using marijuana are likely to develop psychosis" (Feeney & Kampman, 177). The research outlines that pot causes various psychosocial, cognitive, and physical effects thus questioning the legalization of the drug. For that matter, the benefits of drug legalization are just in the perspective of economic advantages but in real sense legalization of marijuana is like praising a few people while bullying the whole society with future complications that will be hard to treat (Feeney & Kampman, 177). The social-cultural view of the legalization of drugs shows that drug use will destroy a larger population of people thus legalization should consider more than just general health and economic benefits in a country.

Conclusion

In conclusion, this paper has shade light on the facts concerning drugs legalization in the US, some of the medical implications, the economic advantage of legalizing it and the effects that it may cause to the society as a roadmap for concluding whether drugs should be authorized or not. The consequences of legalized drugs in countries like Portugal overweigh the benefits of the drugs to the society like those that have been realized in Colorado and Washington states. For that matter, it has been identified that legalization needs to be followed by a given set mechanism that should protect the population that is highly susceptible to the problem to be spared from the absurd effects that various drugs might cause them the way the society in Portugal was made to suffer. Reduction of court cases will be realized but the health Implication still hold a more significant risk to humanity thus the legitimacy of the legalization of drugs is still under siege. Therefore, legalization of drugs is always a hot topic since the repercussions are still bad as compared to the benefits.

Works Cited

Caulkins J. P., Kilmer B., Reuter P. H., Midgette G. Cocaine's fall and marijuana's rise: questions and insights based on new estimates of consumption and expenditures in US drug markets.Addiction 2015; 110: 728-36.

Feeney, Kathleen E., and Kyle M. Kampman. "Adverse effects of marijuana use." The Linacre Quarterly 83.2 (2016): 174-178.

Gardenier, Donald, Mary Brennan, and Lydia Marie Weber. "Should Marijuana be Legalized?." The Journal for Nurse Practitioners 13.2 (2017): 116-117.

Goncalves, Ricardo, Ana Lourenco, and Sofia Nogueira da Silva. "A social cost perspective in the wake of the Portuguese strategy for the fight against drugs." International Journal of Drug Policy 26.2 (2015): 199-209.

Reuter, Peter. "The difficulty of restricting promotion of legalized marijuana in the United States." Addiction 109.3 (2014): 353-354.