Decriminalization

Policing as a whole is a constantly evolving career and concept. Policies, mission statements, and patrols all fluctuate either drastically or minimally due to the change in our society. Because our government revolves around its’ citizens, legislature enacts laws that reflect the populations’ view on topics. For example, the recent trend has been to legalize or decriminalize marijuana. This drug seems to have a never-ending cycle of it being legal, then illegal, and then back to it being legal.…

What is the Truth of Marijuana “There are a lot of unanswered questions about marijuana—questions about its effect on the brain, and on young people—and we think legislators would be wise to look at these questions as they consider the legalization of marijuana.” This was the answer from Chris Thorne, the vice president of communications, to the question of marijuana legalization. Colorado and Washington together decriminalized and legalized cannabis by popular vote in 2012. After that,…

When you hear the word marijuana, you probably are not thinking of a valuable medicine. About 5,000 years ago, cannabis was founded by the father of medicine, Emperor Shen-Nung, in China and was used since then for a variety of things like liquid extract, food preparation, and more, but in today's society marijuana has been looked at as being just another way to get high or a gateway drug. It received a bad reputation when people began using it for the effects of the chemical inside,…

Going hand in hand with the mass incarceration of African-Americans is current their disenfranchisement. According to Michelle Alexander, this new Jim Crow has “disenfranchised [more] today than in 1870, the year the Fifteenth Amendment was ratified prohibiting laws that explicitly deny the rights to vote on the basis of race” (Alexander, 2011, p. 180). All but three states have some type of law prohibiting prisoners or even individuals who served their full sentences from voting in elections…

to women being forced into prostitution for a variety of different reasons. In modern times, prostitution and the sex trade still exists as a very real and serious problem. Rachel Moran, a former sex worker, writes about her thoughts on the decriminalization of the global sex trade in her article titled “Buying Sex Should Not Be Legal,” which was published in The New York Times. She argues that the sex trade should be criminalized to protect the women that are being sold, traded, and pimped…

based on Sanctity of Life theory, as the majority did, and say that all lives have the same value. One cannot compare an individual, who is suffering from a progressive, incurable disease, to an individual who is not suffering. I argue for decriminalization of MAiD, based on support from philosophical theory Quality of Life, which states that some lives have more value than other lives. The theory takes a humane look at individuals, understanding that not everyone endures the same circumstances…

Marijuana, also known as cannabis, weed, pot, grass, and bud has become a huge part of society within the past few years. One in three people in America have tried smoking marijuana at one point in their lives. This debate over legalizing marijuana has been going on for quite some time, but it is recently more intense than ever. In 1969, only 12% of our population supported legalizing marijuana. Today, a majority of Americans support the legalization for recreational use. Meanwhile a majority of…

as opiate substitution therapy have also reduced crimes, overdose deaths and the spread of HIV infection. If we look into decriminalization, it encourages the use of these effective programs. Evidence shows that the number of those seeking help ranging from rehabilitative to social programs nearly doubled in Portugal within five years of implementing their decriminalization policy. If a variety of options that actually produce benefits exist in the market today, governments should focus on…

would lead to more sex slavery andsexually transmitted diseases, as well as more of what prostitutes already face. The negative effects of criminalization, and the comparison of countries with limited legal prostitution policies proves that decriminalization is the best chor sex workers and their clients in america. Sex workers have been stigmatized for almost all history. Prostitutes are considered immoral, dirty, and untrustworthy. They are often associated with drugs and gangs. Both women…

policy simply does not work and is counterproductive. The reality is drugs are here to stay, wherever there is a need, there will be a demand and individuals may go through dangerous, violent and unhealthy means to satisfy that need. Through the decriminalization of drugs, the U.S government can finally address the issue of addiction as a disease, the health risks that addiction posses to society tackle the immense number of inmates on minor drug charges, and injustice in the sentencing between…