Taking hard drugs slowly kills the mind and the body. For example with cocaine, short term hallucinations over time can lead to having a stroke or death. Drugs take a large toll on the body and they could cause harm to people around a user of them. But unfortunately, because of our justice system, drugs occasionally drag innocent people into court. Even acquiring miniscule amounts of drugs can ruin lives. The personal and social costs of recreational drug use are high; in addition, some of the penalties for drug use or possession are unfair or unjust; therefore, the middle road of decriminalization of some recreational drugs is the best answer to America’s drug problem. One of the major problems with prohibition is searching property and
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One of the first major changes that could improve living in the United States is decriminalizing possession of small amounts of most drugs. Doing this would allow for cases like Amy Albritton’s to never become more than a simple traffic stop. In the United States, the average cost of holding an inmate for one year costs $31,286 (Santora). In some states, like New York, each inmate costs $60,000 a year (Santora). As of 2015, 318,434 inmates are currently serving time for drug related crimes (Roeder). This currently costs nine billion dollars alone. Although some inmates may be serving time for more severe drug related crimes, legalizing small amounts of drugs would lower the amount of money spent by the government to incarcerate them. Another option in legalization could be to allow the possession and sale of drugs, but in a highly regulated manner. Allowing small amounts of some drugs to be purchased, but with taxes or by government authorized sellers would allow for drug users to purchase what they need safely without potentially harming others in attempts to obtain drugs. Regulating the amount dispensed could save lives by preventing overdoses, and insure that the drugs purchased are safe to use. Closely regulating the use of some drugs would likely prevent many lives from being destroyed due to using
One of the first major changes that could improve living in the United States is decriminalizing possession of small amounts of most drugs. Doing this would allow for cases like Amy Albritton’s to never become more than a simple traffic stop. In the United States, the average cost of holding an inmate for one year costs $31,286 (Santora). In some states, like New York, each inmate costs $60,000 a year (Santora). As of 2015, 318,434 inmates are currently serving time for drug related crimes (Roeder). This currently costs nine billion dollars alone. Although some inmates may be serving time for more severe drug related crimes, legalizing small amounts of drugs would lower the amount of money spent by the government to incarcerate them. Another option in legalization could be to allow the possession and sale of drugs, but in a highly regulated manner. Allowing small amounts of some drugs to be purchased, but with taxes or by government authorized sellers would allow for drug users to purchase what they need safely without potentially harming others in attempts to obtain drugs. Regulating the amount dispensed could save lives by preventing overdoses, and insure that the drugs purchased are safe to use. Closely regulating the use of some drugs would likely prevent many lives from being destroyed due to using