Society have been questioning if the incarceration of nonviolent drug offenders and the use of the three-strike law is correlated to the rise of prison population. There seems to be several beliefs that those who are drug users are violent individuals or that the use of drugs can lead to questionable behavior due to the effects that it have on the brain. Though all drugs are psychopharmacological agents, not all of them are the same. Drugs, such as marijuana, cocaine, and methamphetamine, brings out different reaction out of each user. In regards to both mind and body, people have different reactions to different drugs, and different reactions to the same drug. The natural reaction that one person have to marijuana will not be the same reaction
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According to Brownstein (2013), “While there is evidence that methamphetamine can result in negative health and safety outcomes, it is not reasonable to argue that using a drug like methamphetamine will necessarily or even probably result in violent offending” (p. 81). Not everyone who uses methamphetamine ends up becoming violent, and those who do end up becoming violent do not do so in all circumstances. Numerous studies have been conducted as way to prove that drug use does lead to violence. Brownstein (2013) said, “In a study of heroin users in New York City and Baltimore by Nurco and his colleagues, they found that only a small portion of heroin users in their sample used violence with any regularity”(p.82). Therefore concluding that that the relation between the uses of drugs, whether obtained legally or illegally, is not as great as previously …show more content…
Over the past centuries the United States have used prison as a form of punishment for those who commit crimes. According to Brownstein (2013), “From 2000 to 2009, the total number of arrestees decreased by 2 percent, and the number of arrestees for drug offenses increased by 5 percent. Of all sentenced prisoners in federal prisons in the United States in 2008, 52 percent (95,079) were under custody for a drug offense” (p.87). This rise in the incarceration rate has caused taxpayers a large sum of money. Brownstein (2013) continues to say, “In 2009 the Federal Bureau of Prisons estimated the average annual cost of incarceration per federal inmate was about $25,895, and the National Institute of Corrections (NIC) estimated the average for state correctional facilities was $28,771” (p.88). If drug users are people that are violent against others, then the cost to incarcerate them would be understandable since they pose a threat to society. But if research have proven that drug users are not necessarily likely to be violent or commit horrendous crimes, then it would make more sense to use the funding that would have been used during their incapacitation to get them the treatment that is
According to Brownstein (2013), “While there is evidence that methamphetamine can result in negative health and safety outcomes, it is not reasonable to argue that using a drug like methamphetamine will necessarily or even probably result in violent offending” (p. 81). Not everyone who uses methamphetamine ends up becoming violent, and those who do end up becoming violent do not do so in all circumstances. Numerous studies have been conducted as way to prove that drug use does lead to violence. Brownstein (2013) said, “In a study of heroin users in New York City and Baltimore by Nurco and his colleagues, they found that only a small portion of heroin users in their sample used violence with any regularity”(p.82). Therefore concluding that that the relation between the uses of drugs, whether obtained legally or illegally, is not as great as previously …show more content…
Over the past centuries the United States have used prison as a form of punishment for those who commit crimes. According to Brownstein (2013), “From 2000 to 2009, the total number of arrestees decreased by 2 percent, and the number of arrestees for drug offenses increased by 5 percent. Of all sentenced prisoners in federal prisons in the United States in 2008, 52 percent (95,079) were under custody for a drug offense” (p.87). This rise in the incarceration rate has caused taxpayers a large sum of money. Brownstein (2013) continues to say, “In 2009 the Federal Bureau of Prisons estimated the average annual cost of incarceration per federal inmate was about $25,895, and the National Institute of Corrections (NIC) estimated the average for state correctional facilities was $28,771” (p.88). If drug users are people that are violent against others, then the cost to incarcerate them would be understandable since they pose a threat to society. But if research have proven that drug users are not necessarily likely to be violent or commit horrendous crimes, then it would make more sense to use the funding that would have been used during their incapacitation to get them the treatment that is